Fate
by BiagioMonkey
Summary: Set after the end of 4x22. After a year abroad Blair comes back to NY facing what she had left behind. Serena doesn't talk to her anymore and Chuck hangs out with a certain Daphne Harvey.
1. Chapter 1

This is the last long fic I've published. I wrote it almost two years ago, at the end of the 4th season, because I didn't like how the story went. The structure of the text is inspired by the fic "the Little Princess" wrote by Isabelle ( my favourite Chair writer). So It is divided in two parts. At the beginning, the end of the fist half and at the end of the chapters you'll find a cursive paragraph which represents one of the character thoughts, all the rest is the story. Despite the gossip girl characters, which I don't own, and I write about just for personal pleasure, I want to specify that in this fic you'll find some new characters, born from my imagination, whose storylines intertwine Chuck and Blair's one.

All the names and the characters are invented too.

I hope you'll like it.

I need to thank my wonderful beta, who helped me while I was writing this in italian, and is correcting my translations. Thank you Cry!

Chapter 1: **THE HEIRESS**

_**It was November, during my fifteen, when my grandfather took me with him to Prague for one of his boring business trip. I hated them because half of the time I stayed close in one of our family's many soulless properties, while he was doing public appearances and attending galas. It was Andy, the British ambassador's son, who asked my grandfather if I could have accompanied him to one of his friend's party, overcoming my grandfather's diffidence.**_

_**He's never got mad at me when he found out that he took me to an illegal party in an old bank's caveau, with too many persons he'd have defined disreputable. I've always wondered if, looking back, he'd felt some kind of remorse not to have cut the problem by the root. As for me, I've cursed that choice for many years because it made me grow up more than a 15 years old should have had. But, above all the many things which followed that night, there was one thing that became part of my life and made it better: Chuck Bass.**_

_Hamptons estate 2012_

"Blair… Blair Waldorf?" Dan stood up, watching her approaching the table he had chosen.

"I'm having breakfast with you just because Nate is out with Eric!"

She was always the same, head held high, straighten back, 12 heel and a Chanel bag. Without looking at him, she took the chair and sat, crossing her legs, leaving him still standing.

"Hi, Dan! I'm so happy to see you! How are you? I'm glad you're fine! I'm good too" he ironically raved out laud, keeping on standing, knowing that she wasn't even listening on to him, but that she was ready to give him an order.

"Bring me a coffee, big cup, not watery" despite the two years of their pseudo friendship, every time this scene repeated itself, Dan couldn't stop giving her that look, the one that told about how much he hated taking orders by spoiled and disrespectful people.

"Something else?" he faked courtesy.

"Check if the cup is dirty"

"I'll ask them to hand clean it" he pinpointed with a sarcastic tone, before going to the counter.

"So, are you planning not to tell me?" Dan asked her, after she had called the waiter for the millions time because the milk for the coffee was too skimmed and the cup handle was lightly scratched. Working with her had taught him that this was the morning peak of a Waldorf tension mood.

"I don't know what you're talking about" she pretended to stare at the blossomed flowerbed outside of the window.

"I'm talking about the reason why you're so nervous today" he explained gently, knowing that he was entering into a minefield.

"Work" she answered, sipping at the coffee.

"Work?" he asked, not too convinced.

"What are you trying to insinuate Humphrey?" she turned towards him, aware that his journalistic bent would have continued till he had found even just a fragment of what he thought it was a corroborating proof for his irrelevant theory.

"When was the last time you've been at the Van der Woodsen?"

"Last week. For dinner" she answered immediately, very annoyed by his obtrusiveness.

"So… How are Chuck and Serena?" he asked generically.

"Good" she lied. He looked like if he was doubting it.

"Ok!" she puffed "It seemed they were fine. At least, that's what I think" she looked around, avoiding his gaze.

"You think?" he repeated.

That was the reason why she hated Dan Humphrey so much. He had never learned how to mind just of his own business.

"Ok! Fine!" she was very, very irritated "Serena hasn't spoken to me all night and Chuck wasn't even there. Are you satisfied now?"

He looked at her, while she was trying to stop sadness from possessing her face. She turned her gaze back out of the window, preventing him from finding out the truth, hidden in her silence, the one that resurfaced every time he tested that button.

He look down at his breakfast. Did he have to tell her or was it better to omit?

"Stop doing that face, Humphrey! I already know what you don't know if you should tell me"

"Do you know?" he asked, quite surprised. He had never understood how the Waldorf radar worked, but it worked very well.

"If you're referring to the fact that '_the great Chuck Bass is permanently accompanied by the nephew of the most powerful bank magnate in the world, as well as the third richest men of the planet_', well, I do!" she repeated parrot-fashion his article about this story.

"I'm sorry for not telling you about.."

"The fact that you were following Chuck's hunting expedition?"- she interrupted him "We are not together anymore. I don't care who he's dating" she looked at him faking a smile.

"So, the news that she's been hosted by Lily here at the Hamptons, doesn't piss you off..." Dan continued, convinced that the more she had known about Chuck, more she had consequentially behaved. She had suffered too much because of him, she had given him too much of herself to destroy all was left of the only healthy part of their relationship. She deserved someone better. Someone different.

"I'm happy for him" she answered quickly with a forced smile. "And, please. Spare me the ritual argument! I'm good. I'm a successful woman and I have all the men I want. Chuck Bass is just a frail memory of a totally wrong page of my life".

"Glad to hear it from you. You and I both know, you've worked hard to reach the place you're now. Coming back into that delusional phase would be just a waste of time" he agreed, but Blair looked down at the empty cup of coffee.

She had fought hard, tooth and nails, to find back her real self and create her little place in the world, something where to define herself and that could point at the difference between her and the world outside. And she made it. She could say she was Blair Waldorf, a copy editor of an important fashion magazine, not the daughter of or the girlfriend of, not anymore. But even if anyone had ever been able to stop her career, _that_ man kept on doing it, appearing and disappearing on the financial and gossip newspapers.

She had always wondered if what she was still feeling for him was just disappointment for the fact that they could have had it all together, but they had ended up with nothing due to the tons of mistakes which had ripped them apart, deeply.

Yet, even if she hated admitting it, during all those years she had thought about him, many times, realizing that sometimes she missed all the little things that characterized him, that had tied them together. And yes, She had seen all that pictures with that girl, and despite the irritation she could have felt, she was sure that that man wasn't Chuck, at least not the one that she was used to know better than anyone else.

Obviously, she had never told Dan she was still thinking about Chuck. He could have never understood. No one could have.

"I have to go" she closed the Bass argument, reaching her bag on the other chair and standing up.

"Shall I accompany you?" he stood up too.

"And ruin my new Louboutin walking with you on the sidewalk?" she was disgusted.

"I'll walk you to the car" he conceded.

_**I knew the Hamptons pretty well since my grandmother used to take me there really often when I was a kid. We owned eight houses there, so we used to play a game: when we decided to go there, we used to put all the names in a container and drew lots. However, we used to stay there just for a few days. I've always preferred the house in Ponza or in Capri. The fact that part of my family was Italian helped me in making me love that land so much more. **_

_**One of the many things that I hated about the Hamptons was the high society colonization, attending parties everyday just to show our presence in the unlimited luxury we were obliged to, for etiquette.**_

_**I've always loved the parties and the fact that my family was one of the most powerful of the world prevented me from hating luxury and its comforts, but my grandparents have always taught me that flaunting could have been dangerous. That's the reason why I grew up in a small town, raised to respect every social level and dropper introduced to the world.**_

_Black and White Party_

"I can already imagine what they' say" she whispered, so that he was the only one able to hear her.

"That's the fun in this" he hold out his hand to help her, going down the stairs toward the gazebo.

"Of course!" she smiled "How could I've ever forget it? I'm getting along with the most talked about bachelor of this hemisphere!"

"Causing a stir is my mission"

"Well, that total yellow suit is absolutely going to help"

The silence fell for a few steps, than he stopped and hold her with him. They were just a few feet away from their first public appearance.

"If you really want to stay in New York, this is inevitable" he was serious, but she could feel a pale sign of concern while his hazel eyes were staring at her, looking for a validation, or, maybe, just a promise that everything was going to be fine, for good.

"There's nothing I love more than entering the list and facing the enemy" she reassured him, placing her hand on his cheek to rub out a grain of sand next to his ear. It was one of that kind of intimate acts, they were slowly getting used to.

She couldn't tell him she was scared too. Walking through that door meant publicly changing their life, answer to too many questions. They had talked about that for so long with their families. It was decided, that was the right time and the best way to let their bond fall in the public domain.

Like if they even had another possibility! She thought. Since they had decided that they couldn't care less about the press they had been immortalized on every possible magazine or newspaper. There wasn't another possibility for them.

She took his hand and tightened firmly. When his face relaxed, she realized he was ready.

Everything happened immediately. First the paparazzi's flashes dazzled Chuck Bass and Daphne Ginevra Harvey, then, suddenly, all the presents' gazes were on them, followed by any sort of malicious comments.

"If I don't drink a few shoot of vodka now, I think I can insult someone!" she explained between teeth, faking a smile to the mayor's wife, they were having a conversation with. He stifled a laugh.

"The private bar is on the east side of the house" he whispered in her ear.

"Chuck Bass, In due time you're going to be handsomely rewarded for this" she turned toward him, smiling smartly.

"Ru-fia-na" he answered with seducing voice and malicious gaze, repeating that Italian word in a wrong accent.

* * *

"Have you seen Blair? She's back from France" Eric was looking at Blair from the balcony. It was impossible not noticing her, as when she had entered the gazebo all the flashes were on her.

Serena, leaned over the balcony to see her ex bff. Her gaze seemed warmed for a while, before coming back to the indifference mask she's gotten used to wear every time the Blair Waldorf argument peaked up.

"She looks fine" she commented.

"You miss her" he knew her better.

"It doesn't matter"

"She's your best friend" he pointed out.

"She was" she specified "Before she lied to me and fooled me"

"Maybe you just have to…"

"The only thing I have to do right now is going downstairs to entertain Chuck and Daphne" Serena cut off the conversation.

* * *

Since she had arrived she hadn't even been able to take a breath. Cece had blocked her to talk about Paris. Lily had introduced her to some new members of Bass Industries, while every single person she knew, wanted to know how she was going, why she did leave the prince but didn't come back home. Too bad, that every single conversation had ended with a comment or a question about Chuck and his new girlfriend.

She needed a drink. A strong drink. She knew that Cece had a bar on the opposite side of the house, where she and the NJBC eused to stole bottles during the summer parties. She headed there, through the corridors where she was used to run after Serena playing hide and seek when they were babies. The old bar room was empty but it still felt warm with its retrò furniture.

She took the bottle, pouring the Martini into the glass. She smiled, realizing that she had chosen the glass with Chuck initials, the one that he had carved by himself during a drunken afternoon. The first sip was liberating, the second one refreshing, on the third she was finally relaxed. Transported by the memories, she remembered when the NJBC lied on the sofa in the center of that room and stayed there for hours, staring at the ceiling, after drinking everything. She still could feel the same quiet and familiarity with that place. Cece hadn't even cancelled the sign of their height, measured every summer and printed on the huge mahogany library against the wall. She couldn't contain the urge to touch the letters with her hand.

Accepting the fact that everything was different just by reading their names on the wood and admitting how much she was unhappy without them, really hurt her. It was so strange. So difficult.

She was touching the C letter when a female voice interrupted her.

"I did it too in my house. My grandmother kept on measuring me till last year".

Blair had just the time to dry the tears on her cheeks before turning and finding that the most talked about woman of the party was standing right in front of her.

Everyone knew her, but she had the fame to be everything but unreachable. So Blair couldn't help but stare at her, surprised by the way her white Valentino with black borders clung perfectly on her body, giving her a touch of impeccable refinement. Or notice the way her brown hair fell gently on her tanned back, without any hairstyle, making her look someone of an innate elegance. She was beautiful. She already knew it from the gossips and the pictures with Chuck, but in person she simply let anyone speechless. She looked untouchable. Hazel eyes, long eyelashes, tanned skin, slightly red cheeks and a hard gaze, but sweet at the same time.

Blair didn't like to feel uncomfortable, but in that very moment she was and she didn't like it. It was just a few minutes later that Blair realized that the girl was studying her too, pushing her to break the silence.

"I don't speak with the strangers" Blair started, plunging the first lama. She didn't like the fact that his ex's girlfriend was trying to talk to her without being introduced first.

Daphne smiled than walked to the bar to pour herself a drink. Blair expected everything but that reaction.

"You know, Blair, I've been waiting years for meeting you. Your fame anticipates you".

"What a wonderful thing! In this case I don't need to waste my time to instruct you about what you can do, or better, you can't do on my land" Blair admonished her sharply. She couldn't say what was pissing her the most: her ethereal aspect or her charm?

"I've been told this too, about you…" she raised the glass and started to sip. Blair boiled, but she knew she couldn't lose the control.

"Very good! So, there's nothing left to say " Blair ended the conversation, ready to leave the room, but the girl stopped just in front of her, preventing her from reaching the door.

"Daphne Ginevra Harvey. This is my name, Blair. Although, I seriously doubt that you didn't know it. By the way, since this moment on, we're not strangers anymore" she smiled at her. Blair stared at her, cough on the wrong foot.

_She's one of the smartest and most clever girl I've ever met. She doesn't allow anyone to walk over her. _That was the way Cyrus had described Daphne, a while ago.

"And Blair…" Daphne took another sip first "…nobody tells me what to do! I won't do this to you and vice versa. I'm sure, I've been clear, too! To our next conversation!" she raised the glass to Blair, who was now very pissed.

"I seriously doubt it" Blair answered immediately, stepping toward her in order to hint her to make her street.

Daphne didn't, she simply stayed there looking at her without moving. Blair challenged her with her gaze, without any result. She had to turn and leave the room avoiding her. She was fuming. That girl was a threat. She needed to defeat her.

_**The first time I've heard about Blair Waldorf, it was through Chuck Bass. At the time she was still engaged to his best friend, but it didn't stop me from reading something deeper in Chuck's expression, at the only pronouncement of her name. Through the time I've learned how to know her by his moods and the few sentences which followed a few more glasses of scotch.**_

_**One thing about her was clear: no one could have influenced Chuck Bass the way she could. It was like he fully depended on her, like if their relationship worked just on a dual way: living or dead. I've wondered for many years what made her so special to be able to destroy him and then rebuild him stronger, every single time. It was just when I met her for the very first time that I realized it.**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Second Chapter: The other woman**

_**The most dangerous enemy, sometimes, is the one we didn't know it existed, the one hidden in the shadow, ready to show itself in the last expected moment. I've learned it on my skin: what makes a person stronger, but consequentially vulnerable, is their biggest fragility. That was the reason why, Blair hated me so much. I knew her biggest fragility, so I was on the first place of her black list. Something about it entertained me.**_

"Is Daphne still in Shangai?" Lily sat in Chuck's office at the Palace Hotel.

"She'll be back by the evening" Chuck was pouring her some bourbon from the little table next to the sofas.

"I can't still believe that that girl is in charge of such a huge empire" she took the glass he was handing to her.

"She's a hyena" he commented making an admiration grin.

"I've been told that, when the grandfather would be back, she's interested in taking care of the foundation business!"

"She likes it. Plus, she could stay here in New York" Chuck explained to her. "The uncle instead doesn't care about the family group"

"She'll need a firm hand to conquer the city" Lily looked concerned, referring to the one he knew better than anyone else.

"Daphne doesn't fear anyone"- Chuck answered firmly and convinced. There was pride in his voice. How couldn't he be proud of her? She had his mark.

"You adore her, don't you?" Lily asked looking at the shy smile picturing on his face.

"I really care about her" it was the only answer he gave her, before turning to sip his scotch.

"How can I blame you?" she looked happy "I find her charismatic and so very sensitive. You two are so similar". Chuck looked down almost embarrassed and Lily took his and.

"Charles, you don't know how happy I am knowing that you're so peaceful" she smiled sweetly.

"I am" he raised her hand to his mouth and he gently kissed her back.

* * *

"She wasn't moving to allow me to leaving the room! Can you believe it!? Who does she think she is? Just because she's the nephew of the third richest man in the world does she s think that she can puppy me like an Humphrey?" Blair was nervously walking back and forward in her kitchen.

"Miss Blair"- Dorota tried to interrupt her.

"Oh, and do you know what did she say to me? That I won't tell her what to do as she won't tell me! How dare she think to order me, Blair Waldorf, around!?" Dorota started to follow her around, quite worried. Blair was handing a knife that was dangerously waving in the air during her moment of anger.

"Miss Blair"- she said again.

"Dorota, what the hell you want?"- she fumed irritated, turning toward her without noticing that she was threatening her with the knife that was just 4 centimeters away from her face.

Dorota was pale. With scared gaze she looked down at the knife trying to push Blair to do the same.

"Oh!" Blair put the innocent face on, looking at the knife. It was a moment when her eyes shined.

"I've got an idea" she smiled exited. She ran and sit at the table and started to write things on the first paper she had found there.

"That kus kus recipe"- Dorota wasn't very pleased.

"We're in New York city! Who does eat kus kus?" Blair looked horrified.

"Vanya" Dorota answered with a little bit of embarrassment.

"Cook him some crayfish pie" Blair suggested.

"Mr Chuck loves crayfish pie" after saying it out loud Dorota realized she had just mentioned the unnamable.

"Move on the left, you're hiding me the light"- she ordered without looking at her. Blair was pretending that she hadn't hear that name. Knowing Blair, Dorota moved slowly without objecting.

"Miss Blair want investigate Miss Harvey?" she asked reading the list Blair was writing.

"Did you really think that I'd stayed here with the hands in my pocket?"

"Miss Blair, she is..." Dorota started to explain but Blair stopped her.

"Do you know what happens when someone try to play against me?"

"Public humiliation?" Dorota was worried about Blair's determination.

"Exactly. So, in order to destroy her I need to know her weaknesses, her enemies, her fears, everything about her" Blair stand up checking carefully the list on the paper. Then she handed it to Dorota and left the room.

"But Miss Blair, Miss Harvey not Nelly Yuky. She is person much mooore powerful" Dorota ran after Blair exposing her doubts about the mission.

"Everyone has secrets Dorota, we just need to find out what she's hiding and expose it. Then this nightmare will be over, for good, thankfully!" that was the only answer she received from Blair, when she was turning to her.

"I read no bads about Miss Harvey. Neither KGB would find" Dorota was agitated. Blair's eyes close into slits.

"Dorota, do you really want know why KGB was a failure?"

"Americans better?" Dorota was unsure about the answer.

"Of course not, Dorota!" Blair admonished her "They failed because there didn't hire someone like me to destroy their enemies! Now, go! I need that information by tonight for Lily's party. And be careful not to miss anything, I don't want to waste too much time on that piece of work!" she turned and went upstairs.

* * *

"B-Blair? You're here?" Dan was surprised to find her in the van der Bass corridor.

"Lily kept on insisting" she answered never stopping to look at the elevator.

"Are you hiding from someone?" he asked, staring perplexed at her, who was fixing right in front of her with a fan that covered all her face with the only exception of her eyes.

"Fine… I'm on a mission so don't move or you'll ruin my cover"

"A Cover? In the middle of a party with half of Manhattan, in the Van de Woodsen hall?" he was surprised.

"You've followed me like a dog for years and you haven't even learned the basic of a mission!? What of an enormously waste of my precious time you've been!" she complained.

"Now that you've offended me, can I please know what's going on?" he asked while Dorota was exiting the elevator with the same fan in her hand. She stopped to localize Blair. When they saw each other, Blair waved the fan followed by Dorota. In a few seconds, they headed to Serena's old room, trying not to draw attention.

"Phoenix reached the camp" Blair was talking behind the fan, once they were entering the room together.

"Affirmative"

"Operation's results?" she kept on asking Dorota, taking the papers she was handing quickly to her.

"Satisfying"

"Let me see"- Blair thrown the fan on the bed and look at the papers "Daphne Harvey, What are you hiding?" it was victory in her eyes.

"Miss Daphne was born in Rome on Decembe the 25 in 1990. No mother, father dead when she was 14" Blair was reading carefully while Dorota was reporting out loud.

"Travelled all world with grandparents, but grown in London and Italy" Blair nodded.

"Speak 5 langueges: English, Italian, French, Spanish and German. Frequents Law school in Cambridge. Always first in her classes"

"Boyfriends?"

"Many suitors: bachelors, football players, actors. Friend since childhood with miss Charlotte. First Lady Jackie her godmother. Her grandfather very close friend of Mandela. She often hangs out with prince Henry"

"Nannies fired because of her?"

"She had no nannies"

"Secret sexual affairs with hot teachers?"

"Never been to college. She studied just in public schools, except university. Never been with teachers or older person. All female teachers"

"How can it does even be possible? And Bodyguard? Horse teachers?" Dorota shook her head. Blair started to become nervous.

"Drugs?"

"Clean"

"Alcol?"

"Loves Italian wines. Never found in compromising position"

"Scandalous affairs? Personal vendettas?" it was impossible. She looked like a saint.

"Nothing. Everyone say she is correct person, think always of her business"

Blair snorted. This wasn't a satisfied result. It was terrible. She was clean and untouchable .

"There is something missing" Dan's voice made her turn towards him.

"Miss Blair still speak to Dan Humphrey?" Dorota accused her.

"Dorota, you can go. Now" she sent her away avoiding her disappointing gaze. Dorota took the papers, running her gaze through Dan, she left the room.

"What do you know about her?"

"Why do you need it?"

"She need a punishment, she thread me" she walked to the chair and sat, playing with her pearl necklace while crossing her legs. He stared at her for a while.

"I can't waste my time Humphrey. That girl wants to take something mine and I'll stop her"

"You're talking about Chuck?"

"I'm referring to New York!" she answered changing the conversation. Dan stayed in silence and relaxed against the doorframe.

"She has a cloudy past" he started catching Blair attention. "It seems like, her grandfather paid a huge bill to destroy the proof of a very compromising situation" Blair straitened her ears.

"Finally! You know Humphrey? You're starting to be useful. Go on!" she ordered.

"She disappeared for a few months when she was eighteen"

"Detoxification clinic?"

"Ever heard about Nicholas Alexandrevski?"

"The son of the Russian magnate?" now she was quite surprised.

He was the bachelor of a very powerful family, as much as Daphne's, and Blair knew that their families were on bad terms. Nicholas was the son of the magnate and he was their age, he was a womanizer with a resume full of troubles and bravados that would have made Chuck Bass really envious. She remembered that Chuck, who knew Nicholas very well, once had told her that he had fought with his family and left it during a very important business. It created a scandalous, the father didn't forgive him and since that moment on, Nicholas used to travel around the world and live in his mother's property.

"Well, I've been told that they had a secret relationship" Blair stay stunned.

"Are you sure? I seriously doubt that they frequented the same places… Nicholas has been disinherited almost 4 years ago" Blair minimized.

"There's a picture of them, holding each others, a picture that the grandfather bought for 2 million dollars" Blair stand up. That was what she was looking for, but that news needed to be handed with carefulness. She needed to prove it right in order to find even more about it.

"How do you know it?" she asked pretending not to have a plan in her head.

"I've met the paparazzo who took it" Dan explained taking an envelope from the internal pocket of his jacket. "But Blair…" he seemed reticent to talk.

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Blair asked, squinting her eyes.

"Its' not important"

"That's something I'll decide" she ripped the pictures out of his hands.

"Blair I don't think you should…" Blair's heart started to beat faster. It was just a sensation. Before opening the envelope she already knew that it was something she wouldn't like. Her hands started to shake while she was taking out the pictures.

_**My grandfather loved the thrillers-spy stories and, most of all, he loved watching them with me. I can still remember all the hours spent arguing with him about how intricate and brilliant were the plots. But, back then, it was just a mutual passion. It was when I entered the family business, a few years later, that I realized that, in some ways, he was just preparing me for a life full of pitfalls. When the world is at your feet, when your public and private life become one, there's always someone trying to put a spoke in your wheel, who's digging in your own life to find something to destroy you. Never let the guard down, always anticipate: that's the only way to survive.**_

When he opened the door he realized immediately that something wasn't right. The light next to the window was on.

"Is there someone in here?" he asked entering his loft. When he turned he stayed open mouthed.

"Surprised?" Daphne sat quietly on his sofa, sipping a beer from the bottle she had found in the fridge.

"How.. How do you entered?"

"You should do a research. Maybe you'll find out I work with Arsenio Lupin"

"What do you want?" he asked with decision.

"I could ask you the same thing" she answered without losing her calmness mood. He didn't reply.

"You need to leave" he simply invited her out, but she didn't move.

"Daniel, do you know that I seriously considered the possibility to denounce your article? I didn't do it just because of Lily"

"Am I supposed to be thankful?" he asked. She grinned, he shivered. It was not so surprising, knowing that she was part of the Chuck Bass's world.

"I'll tell you something you didn't find in your little research" she started again after a moment of silence "I hate when people try to do my business and sell lies about me to build a career, especially when they use my family and speculate on the people I care about" Dan was stroke. She kept talking.

"Tomorrow morning you'll find the announcement of next week Anniversary party of our Foundation instead of your article. You can come if you want" she smiled.

"You can't do it"

"I've already done it"

"This way to behave is…"

"Unfair? Disloyal?" she hushed him up "I've been touch that doing the other's business and tainting the other's reputations with bullshit is unfair too"

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to stop writing about me and the people around me"

"Are you buying me?"

"I don't need to pay you off. If I'd want you to stop working, the day after you'd be cleaning the sidewalks. I just want you to realize it first" she stood up and she quickly reached the door then she turned toward him.

"You know, Humphrey… not everyone out there is like me. That article hasn't pleased many person and they won't think twice before stamping you up with their little fingers" Dan was left speechless while she left the loft.

* * *

His father's old office was a recording studio. He pulled a face. Where his father showed his financial awards, now there was the entire Bob Marley's collection. Maybe that was the best out Bart deserved.

He reached the desk where Lily had left the reports of the conferences she had spoken about that morning. He sat on the leather chair breathing out. Slowly he closed his eyes and rubbed his lids, turning the chair to the window.

He couldn't remember his last sleep, neither the last time he had taken time for himself. He was hiding there to avoid Blair. Lily had told him about her presence just a few minutes before. What did he feel for her? Was he ready to meet her again?

It was the violence of the door opening behind him, to reawaken him. He suddenly stiffened. He knew that perfume very well, she was there, behind his back, they were both in the same room. He closed his eyes to concentrate, cursing Lily for obliging him to attend that stupid charity parade of the Saturday night. He wasn't ready. That was an ambush. He'd rather meet her on a sunny day in the park while walking with Daphne to get a reaction from her, catch her on the wrong foot like she had done to him the very last time.

But it wasn't that case. Tape rewinded. A different clapperboard.

Then he heard a sob and felt his heart in his throat. He hated when she cried.

He slowly turned the chair and saw her reflex in the mirror. She was standing there, propping herself with a hand up the wall and the other one to shout her mouth to retrain her sobbing while the tears kept on falling down her cheeks. She tried to breath in and out to regain control. She was desperate, something he couldn't bare.

"Blair" it was the only word that left his mouth. He could see a light of anger lightened in her eyes, acknowledging his presence.

She proudly raised her chin and dried her tears. Then she turned toward him. It was in that moment that he understood that something was wrong, something about them. Blair loaded her gun and started blasting away.

"How could I ever loved someone like you, Chuck?" she tried to keep it quiet, while her darkened eyes were looking into his own. Chuck felt himself slum against the wall.

"This is not the way to greet an old friend" he sadly underlined the term 'friend'. It was how she had defined him, before taking the plane years ago. They were friends.

"They all were right! You've never deserved me!" there was anger in her words.

Chuck was still dumbfounded. He had been convincing himself for years about that but hearing from her was like receiving a punch on his face, with no hesitation. She turned away her gaze to stop him from seeing the tears that she was containing.

She hit him were he hurt the most. He knew she had his soul in her hands and she could destroy it, crushing it, till leaving nothing. Did it mattered? Maybe he had never had a soul, maybe without her he didn't even need it.

"Glad you realized it. It's for the best. For both of us" he answered, putting his indifference mask, finally able to face her eyes again. He desperately needed her to continue. That sentence had open a bruise. He needed to feel it. She needed to keep sinking the steel and let him feel.

"I gave you everything and you've taken all, leaving me with nothing!" she walked toward him. She was devastated, but most of all he could sense an hidden accuse in her voice that bothered him. He saw her taking a deep breath to prevent a fall and putting her mask of strength again.

"Tell me Chuck! Wasn't it enough?" she was furious "Wasn't it enough to get me to the bottom and simply forget about me?" He closed his eyes. What the hell she was talking about? She had always been the only thing that mattered to him. The only one.

"Do you really think you've been the only one hurting here, Blair? Do you believe I don't know what you're talking about? That you're the only one who can point the finger?" he said out loud.

"Did you suffer?" she asked sarcastically surprised "Then Tell me Chuck.. When did you suffered? After a quickie in Portofino or in the back of a gallery in Paris?" she accused him out loud too. She was killing with her gaze, getting close to the desk to staring better in his eyes. When she reached it, she leaned her hands on it.

He fixed her. Now, he really didn't know what the hell she was talking about.

"You're talking nonsense Blair!" she shook his head. That was the moment he made her mad.

"Was you already fucking her when you told me you loved me?"

In that moment Chuck looked into her yeas again. He was boiling. That accuse was more than he could have bared. She stood up slowly, placing his hand on the table, too.

"No one will ever be more faithful to you than I've ever been Waldorf. No one!" he said with a mix of anger and sufferance in his voice.

"Chuck Bass, I hate you with all myself" she threw the envelope on the table. It was clear she didn't believe him.

"Not as much as I hate you" he sharply replied staring at the envelope. Ho took it with haste and opened it as fast as he could. He wanted to see her crumble in front of him. Than he understood. The pictures he had found inside, portrayed him with Daphne during the period he was engaged to Blair.

"Where did you got them?" he asked staring back at her. He looked worried.

"Does it matter?" she answered immediately, reading his change of mood.

"He gave them to you… am I right Blair?" jealousy took hold of him.

"That won't make a difference" she hated when he used to change the subject to put a finger on someone else.

"You're wrong! This changes everything!" he shout out exhausted, letting the picture fall down on the table. He turned and walked rigid to the window. He needed to calm himself, to control his emotions.

"Why? Chuck, tell me Why?" something burned inside of him, hearing that question. Maybe it was the fact that he wanted her to feel was he was feeling, or maybe it was his last need to make her believe in him. He turned and buried his eyes into hers. He was rigid and dark. Without leaving her view he padded along toward her. His gaze was so intense to cut her skin.

"I need to know the truth Chuck" she wanted to say it strongly but it came out as a whisper while her heart was beating faster. When he was so close to grab her elbow and make her turn, a shiver ran down her back.

"Which truth do you want Blair?" he made a step closer and grabbed her waist to hold her.

She step back immediately, making her back hit against the desk while he step closer again. She was trapped, she couldn't move anymore. He smirked letting his gaze travelling up and down her body. It was just a matter of time for them to spark. She tried to keep control.

"I need the truth Chuck. You own me this" she whispered trying stop his smell from messing up with her senses. He was too close. She saw a lamp in his darken eyes.

"Do you want to know how I caressed her legs?" he provoked her with anger, moving slowly his hand up and down her thigh. Even if her dress kept a distance, his hand was leaving a strip of fire under her skin.

"Chuck.." that was all wrong. She needed to keep a clear head with him.

"Or do you want to know how her hair smelled when I made her mine on this table?" the deep brown of her hair was something he couldn't resist anymore. He hated when she gathered her hair and she knew it. She was used to gathered them to provoke him. He dangerously get close to her face, never stopping to look into her eyes with an intensity she had never seen before. With a quick move he destroyed the bun and let the hair fall down on her shoulders.

She had no air. She could feel his heavy breath on her face, his dark eyes burning inside hers. By the way his other hand was pushing her down on the desk she could feel his anger and his disappointment. She could do nothing but close her eyes while he was smelling her neck, reaching slowly her ear.

"Or maybe, you want to Know if I cried out her name more than yours?" he grabbed her chin, obliging her to look at him. The pain caused by that sentence, done just to hurt her, made her react.

She slapped him hard. She needed to vomit, to ran away from that place as far as she could, from that man that didn't give her anything but destroyed her every single time. His hands left her waist. In that very moment they realized they were both shaking.

"Do you still want the truth Blair?" he resignedly asked swallowing after a few minutes. His eyes were watery but never leaving hers. What she saw in them made her close hers. She nodded. She felt him stepping back and moving away from her body even if she could still feel his eyes burning on her.

"Ask you friend Daniel!" there was defiance in his voice. She opened her eyes and she read delusion in his hazel eyes, the one she was used to love. Without words he left the room, leaving her alone.

* * *

"You're home late"

"I had things to do" he sharply answered to her, entering the living room and bringing a bottle of Jack.

"Like having a drunken stupor?" she was ironic while she watched him bringing also a second bottle of scotch. He didn't answered.

"Do you know that Blair Waldorf had me on under her radar?" she said to see his reaction. He tensed.

"There's no more Blair Waldorf to me" he replied cutting her like a knife, while he was nervously closing the drawer.

_Hit and sunk! _she bitterly thought.

"Chuck?" she tried to catch his attention. He turned slowly. It was then, when she really saw him. He was devastated. Red eyes and empty gaze.

"I'll be in my room" he said. It was not the right moment.

_**There are different ways to cheat on someone. Sometimes it's an intentional act and the guilty is the one who's losing everything. Sometimes we cheat for revenge: in this case we're both loser. Other times it's just a mistake, so, the one who cheats, loses the esteem of himself first. Finally we cheat when we're scared.**_

_**Nicholas and I, killed our feelings. I can still feel every single stab my heart received, cheating, after cheating. However, in spite of all, I ended up loving him even more, deeper than before.**_

_**But the last time it was all different, everything changed. When you love someone You can accept many things, even more than someone who'd never loved someone that much can think possible, but there's a betrayal you simply can't forget. When the person you love the most, believes in something against you, that's the end.**_

* * *

As always thaks to Cristina for the help!

I Hope you're liking the story!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: ****Checkmate to the Queen**

_**Nicholas sat across the table in front of me. We were with our families. While I was signing that paper, I couldn't look into his eyes, because the pain I was feeling was too much. It was only when I saw his shaking hands, that looked up at him. I caught a light of sufferance that he immediately covered up with his anger. I simply couldn't bare it.**_

_**I stood up and ran away as far as possible from that room, from that gaze which was hunting me, from that bitter disappointment. I felt sick. My pride had blinded me so much that I couldn't realize that maybe I just had to understand his heart, that, maybe, he just needed to be reassured by the truth. Maybe. But I was just 18.**_

"How long have you been hiding here?" Daphne was looking at Chuck, who was working in his office at the Palace. She could see papers and projects thrown everywhere. The chaos.

"I don't have time" he replied, stopping her. He didn't even raise his eyes from the balance he was studying.

"There is mold growing on your Dolce" she teased him, looking at his shirt. No reply.

"In a dump you can breathe fresher air than in this room" she kept on talking, trying to win his attention.

"I'll give you 10 seconds" he finally looked at her.

He was scary: messy hair, which he probably hadn't washed in 3 days; creased unbuttoned shirt, pale face and bags under his eyes. She tried not to show him how worried she was for him. She faked a smile.

"Don't worry. It won't take long" she got close to his desk and sat on the leather chair. He looked at her with perplexity. She wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

"What do you want?"

"Lunch" she smiled, putting a packet on the desk before leaning back against the chair "...or dinner, or maybe both since you haven't come home in days"

"I'm not hungry"

"You can't survive on only scotch, Chuck" she admonished him, looking around to all the empty glasses and bottles.

"My mother is dead. I'm not looking for a substitute" he answered sharply. Hurting her would have meant breaking her away. He needed her to leave because that way of showing him her affection made him weak. He couldn't surrender.

"Touchè" she commented, knowing exactly the game he was playing. Sometimes he was too easy for her.

She left him speechless. Why did she have to be so determined? Only a woman had entered his world and, in the end, he had been the one destroyed. Then, after sitting on their empire's ruins, he had decided he would've no longer allowed anyone else to get that close to him. She needed to leave immediately.

"If you don't mind I have business to attend" he stood up, pointing with his gaze at the door behind her.

"If you really think that closing yourself in your office is going to resolve the problem, than you'd better come back home, because it won't" she said, showing that she didn't have any intentions to leave the room. Instead, she took a few papers from the table and, sitting comfortable on the chair, she started leafing through them.

She was wearing Adidas shoes, Levi's jeans with sweatshirt. Her hair were gathered in a ponytail. She had no make-up, and she was wearing her sunglasses like an headband. She was so natural and comfortable in that outfit that she looked ready for a gala event.

"I don't know what are you talking about" he denied, keeping on staring at her. He needed to prevent her from finding anything to hold on to.

"Have I ever told you that when you lie, your mouth doesn't match your eyes?" she raised her eyes from the papers to threaten him.

"Ok, enough" he puffed, taking his phone to make a speed call.

"Miss Harvey needs to be escorted out of the building. She's feeling sick". She glanced down and chuckled. Sometimes he acted like a child.

"So, tell me, do I have to fake an ulcer or pretend to suffer from low-pressure?" she asked as soon as he turned off the call. He just smiled victorious, looking at his office's doors opening to show two of his security guards entering in the room.

"Did you call us Mr Bass?"

"Miss Harvey needs to go home and have a long sleep" he explained, getting close to her and taking his papers out of her hands.

"Raving is quite normal, when you're tired" he kept on talking, grabbing her elbow to make her stand. Then he grabbed her bag from the other chair and escorted her to the door.

She was silently allowing him to do what he wanted, but when they reached the door she turned, ready to deliver the final stroke.

"Do you know how is this going to end if you keep on hiding in here?" she asked. He changed his facial expression, tensed the lower jaw and tightened up the eyes. "There will come a day when you'll look back and you'll realize that you pride had been useless" As she said it, she turned to the boys and went away.

"I know the way"

* * *

"Blair?" Nate answered the phone, telling her name.

"Nate" she yelled his name with a childish voice.

"Do you need something?" he asked confused.

"Why? Do I need to ask a favor to call a friend?" she tried to sound offended.

"No, of course not. Forgive it" he apologized.

"So, Archibald, how was your summer?" she started the conversation, walking through her wardrobe to find a bag that could match her new shoes.

"Are you referring to the political campaign?" he asked, sounding bored.

"Nate, you grandfather is taking care of your future"

"Or of the family name" he specified.

"Don't get mad! By the way, you're lucky to have a friend like me, who has always something to cheer you up!" a radiant smile pictured on Blair face.

"Blair, I don't have time to entertain your boss"

"She liked you and, thanks to me, you had sex for an entire week! Anyway, what are you doing tonight?"

"Actually, I've a few things planned" he didn't lie. He had to play poker with Chuck.

"What kind of things?" she insisted. He wasn't allowed to talk about Chuck with her.

"I... have a…" He nervously looked around " a conference about the micro credit". He took a deep breath. Thank God Chuck's post kept on coming at the Empire.

"Chuck Bass' invitations don't work anymore!" she caught him immediately "Tonight you'll attend the Harvey Foundation charity event as my chaperone" she proclaimed excited.

"Why are you asking me this?"

"Are you suggesting me to attend to such an important event on my own?"

"Ask Dan" he explained.

"Nathaniel Archibald, the Harveys are one of the most powerful family of the world. The most important people of New York are going to be there. Do you really believe that I'd risk my reputation attending with someone who can't distinguish a fork from a knife?"

Nate shook his head. She was always the same.

"Instead" she continued "going to the party with the nephew of William Van der Bilt would be such an entrance… Just think about how many points you'd won with your grandfather" she tried to persuade him.

Nate thought about it. He had to admit that it could have helped his grandfather to forgive him for missing the meeting with the president. Chuck would have understood.

"Just for tonight, Blair"

"Pick me up at 8. With the limo"

As soon as she ended the conversation, she turned to Dorota.

"Why going with Mr Nate? Miss Blair have personal invitation"

"Because that is a convocational letter to the inquisition, but who said that I am going to be the accused one?" she smiled, thinking about her revenge. Dorota stared worried at her, contemplating what Blair had in mind.

"Miss Blair want to use Mr Dan Humphrey's bullshit?"

"It was all true, Dorota! And, Daphne Harvey deserves to pay for what she had done to me in the past. I want her to remember that no one can fool me"

"What will Miss Blair do?"

"Something very, very funny Dorota. And very, very nice"

* * *

"I can't believe you're organizing a gypsy party at the ancient palace of the Foundation!" Serena was screaming on the other side of the phone.

"Don't you think it's too much an Italian thing?"

"Are you kidding me? Your family's parties are the most glamour of the world!" Serena was really excited for the night.

"I'm just hoping that everything goes the right way" Daphne was really worried about that.

"Are you talking about Chuck?" Serena changed her voice's tone too.

"I've invited Blair Waldorf"

"Wait, does Chuck know it?"

"The world doesn't turn around him" Daphne specified.

"Around them" Serena pointed out.

"Serena, I know she doesn't like me, but not inviting her to my family's party would have been such a huge humiliation"

"And Chuck?"

"I'm in New York to stand by his side, but I can't bear to see him like this"

"At least now he's working. Years ago he would have closed himself in his suite for weeks or left for crazy adventures" Serena commented, remembering the past.

"The fact that, in a scale of sorrow 1-10, now he's classified at 7 grade, it's not something I'd defined as an improvement, Serena. Should I have to get worried for their encounter?"

"If Blair thinks that Chuck did something to hurt her, she won't stop till she'll get a revenge"

"I seriously doubt it's Chuck's fault" Daphne wasn't sure about that. "I don't know what happened last week, Serena. It's just a sensation, but looking at the way Chuck is behaving right now, I'm quite sure that Blair is the one who made a mistake this time"

"Usually Blair doesn't listen" Serena said, faking indifference.

"I think she's just scared" Daphne corrected her.

"This can't be an excuse"

"It's not. However loving someone who keeps on running away from himself it's not that simple. Soon or later you get burned" Daphne sounded serious about that.

"How you can say it?" Serena wondered.

"I know Chuck" it was the only answer Serena received.

"I'm sorry, can I bother you for a second?" a girl dressed like a gypsy got close to Daphne, interrupting her phone conversation.

"Can you hold on the line for a few seconds, Serena?"

"Of course" Serena answered.

"Of course, How can I help you?" Daphne asked to the girl, who looked lost.

"Thank you! Do you have any idea where the Harvey Foundation is?" she asked showing Daphne a map of the city.

"It's just behind your back" Daphne was stunned. Above the door there was a huge inscription of their family's name.

"Oh my God" she smiled satisfied "Thank you so much! Are you working at tonight's party, too?" she asked to Daphne, maybe confused by her casual look.

"Well, I work here, In some kind of ways. You too?" Daphne was gentle in front of the eccentric girl that was already prepared for the party at 2 o clock in the afternoon.

"I'm playing the palmist" she introduced herself, holding out her hand. Daphne was taken by surprise. In her list there wasn't a palmist. The girl kept on talking.

"I'm here to meet… a certain Blair…" she took a piece of paper from her pocket. "Here, I'm looking for Blair Waldorf" Daphne pricked her ears. Serena was right.

Blair really had something in mind, maybe against Chuck.

"Oh!" she pretended "Blair! Of course! What a shame! I've completely forgotten about the palmist role! My fault!" Daphne didn't know what was behind that, but she knew for sure that Blair had made a wrong step, choosing the wrong actress.

"Do you know her?" the girls took a deep relaxing breath.

"Yes, I do! Pretty well! I mean, who doesn't? I'm her personal assistant" she didn't know what game Blair was playing, but she wasn't going to back down "I'm Daphne, very nice to meet you".

"Then you can tell me…is she here?"

"She's not, unfortunately. She had a last minute inconvenience, but you'll see her tonight, at the party. I'm the one in charge now " the girl wasn't pleased by the news.

"Well, I'm new at the agency… I don't know If I can refer to you. I could get fired"

"Oh, don't' worry! Blair is a wonderful person, she trusts me completely! There won't be any kind of problem, believe me!"

"Really? Thank god! You know, playing the part of the palmist on the first day of work, at a such important event like this one, is making me so nervous!" the strange girls looked relieved.

"I understand you! But it's going to be a huge success!" Daphne agreed.

"So, I need to ask you a few things I've missed on the phone with Miss Waldorf!"

"Of course! You know? This is your lucky day. I'm on a break so, if you agree, we can check back everything" Daphne proposed, smiling widely.

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely"

"Thank you, thank you!" the girl yelled, throwing her arms around Daphne.

_**I've never had many friends, but there were always tons of people around me, which I looked at with diffidence. The most difficult thing for me was learning how to distinguish who was liking me for what I was or for what I represented. At the beginning I burnt my finger, than my skin became stronger. I've realized that not everyone looks inside you, doesn't judge you and stands by your side when everything goes wrong. It was not accident that people outside defined us as "lonely people". Sometimes I've even thought it was true.**_

_**When you really love just a few people, if you lose them, a part of yourself leaves with them, and there's no one who can replace their absence.**_

"This party is incredible! Have you seen the mime outside the lady's room?" Eric was excited.

"I didn't, but I've been caricatured!" Serena was overjoyed, taking a paint out her Chanel purse. Eric took a look of it.

"This picture is better than the original!" he joked.

"Shut up!" Serena gently hit his brother with a huge smile on her face. Accidently she hit someone else too.

"Oh my God! I'm so sorry" she apologized turning to her victim.

"Se-serena?" Dan Humphrey was right there, surprised.

She stared at him motionless. After the mess with Blair and Charlie it had become impossible for her to be in the same room with him without feeling the urge to strangle him.

"You look good" he complimented her.

"I should say the same to you" she replied uncomfortable.

"I had no idea you were invited" Eric started to talk to break the silence that had fallen immediately between them.

"Actually I truly believed I was the only person in the world that the Harveys had ever banished" Dan explained sarcastically.

"Daphne is a wonderful person!" Serena couldn't assimilate his words.

"I'd like to say the same" Dan replied coldly but he was interrupted by the huge smile that appeared of Serena's face.

"Nate! We're here!" Serena yelled. She had seen her best friend walking through the guests.

"There you are!" Nate smiled back at her approaching them. That was the moment when Blair made her appearance.

When Serena's and Blair's eyes met, they both frizzed. But in a matter of a seconds Serena turned all her attentions on Nate.

"Blair Waldorf!" Eric greeted her.

"Blair?" Dan was astonished by her presence.

"Humphrey" she simply pronounced his surname and walked next to Eric.

"Little Van der Woodsen, I see you're blonder than usual!"

"Daphne suggested me" he explained excited.

"Obviously" she commented between teeth. Thinking back, it wasn't that good.

"Anyone talking about me?" and then, like a star, Daphne was reaching them in a shining Dior dress.

Dan looked terrified. Nate embraced her and took her up in his arms.

"Nate! Put me down!" she was laughing with him.

Blair puffed annoyed. Why on earth, every single friends she had, was in love with that girl? She needed to put an end to that situation.

"Blair, I'm really glad you're here" Daphne gently talked to her.

"I've appreciated your invitation so much to reconsider my previous behaviour. So, Accept my apologizes and my peace gift!" Blair said it with her fakest smile.

"You shouldn't have"

"Don't be silly! Every respectful queen gives gifts to her foreign guests!"

"What the hell is she saying?" Nate asked Eric.

"I've no idea, but the last time I checked, a Blair Waldorf public gift was an anti-personnel mine"

"You've made me curious" Daphne was pretending to be intrigued by Blair's offer.

"Well, since this is a gipsy party, there can't be no palmist, so I've brought with me someone who can read destiny!"

"And since when are you interested in someone else's fate?"- Nate couldn't contain is curiosity.

"Archibald, Don't be afraid, It is not for you. This is a personal gift for Daphne" Blair tried to be kind with him.

"Just for me? I mean, I think it would be much funnier if we get a reading all together!" Daphne opened the proposal to all the presents.

"I'd love to" Serena had already accepted.

"It would be wonderful!" Blair wasn't that happy "...but my gift was for you!" she wanted to convince her.

"And I officially decide that my own gift, you so generously procured, will be an open palmist session for everyone!" Daphne seemed really excited, and, most of all unmoving.

It was getting worse than what Blair could have expected. She just wanted to record Daphne's session and use it to threaten her privately with her own secrets. Now, even if it was turning into a public humiliation, something she preferred the most, the situation was running out of her hands. She needed to pretend that everything was ok and stay cold.

* * *

They were sitting around a circle table. Nate was sitting on the right of the palmist and next to Blair, who was sitting between him and Dan, followed by Eric and Serena who was facing Dan. Next to Serena there was an empty seat and, in the end, Daphne, who was sitting on the left of the palmist.

The tension in the room was already palpable when Chuck walked the door and looked around.

"What the hell are they doing here?" he asked, looking just at Serena, Daphne, Nate and Eric. As Blair turned her gaze toward him, her heart started beating faster. She was expecting him there, but his presence made the situation even more complicated.

"What are you doing here?" Serena knew that he was working late that night.

"It seems like someone cancelled on me" He stared questioning at Nate. He had seen him with Blair on Gossip Girl. On the other side of the table, Blair was wondering why he wasn't going to come to his girlfriend's party.

"Better, come, seat here!" Serena invited him to take the place next to her.

"At the theatre of the absurd?" he didn't move, observing the table with hesitation.

"Oddly, I agree" Dan commented out loud.

"I don't seat at table with them" he stated. Even if he didn't talk about or look at Blair and Dan, it was clear they were the ones he was referring to.

"Charles, are you afraid that this woman could disclose your deeds?" Blair couldn't shut up, looking up at him. At the same time Chuck eyes were on her, penetrating like a sharp blade. It blazed.

"You should be scared that the skeletons in my closet could be smallest than yours, Blair" he cut, without leaving her sight.

"Chuck!" Daphne urged him. He turned toward her. "Blair organized this little surprise, I honestly don't think this is the way to treat a such generous guest" he stared at her for a while, before capturing a special flash in her eyes. He used to call it "the gaze of the panther", the one he adored about her. He understood that something was brewing and it was better staying. With a slow movement he approached his seat.

The exchange between Chuck and Daphne made Blair ache. That was the way he used to look at her. She felt jealousy. She didn't like it.

The palmist let a deck pass around in order to let each one of them choose two playing cards.

Daphne and Nate looked at each other in silence. Serena was avoiding Dan. Chuck and Blair were facing each other, while Eric was paying attentions to the palmist's expressions. The woman face was making a worried expression. She had closed her eyes and pressed the temples with her fingers. She looked focused. Then, she suddenly opened her eyes, pointing at Serena.

"You" she called her. Blair got frightened: she had asked for a fake palmist, not for a psycho!

"Me?" Serena was trying to prevent a laugh.

"You' won't be happy, if you don't open your heart to the people you really love"

"Wonderful" Blair commented cynically in a low voice. She thought about it: she hadn't given any instruction about Serena. Maybe Dorota had given to the woman some other specifics about the mission, while she was having her Japanese massage.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Serena answered confused.

"She needs you just like you need her" Serena turned up her gaze toward Blair who was doing the same.

Was she real a palmist? Blair was wondering. Or she was just an incompetent who had read gossip girl?

"Forgiveness saves the soul" the woman kept on talking to her, but Serena reacted.

"She had a relationship with the man I loved, and she knew I was in love with him" she exploded with fury.

Daphne lowered her gaze, waiting for what she had defined the apocalypse. She was proud of herself, the live of the argument was even funnier than in her imagination.

"How many times do I have to say this? I kissed Dan once. Thank God, if I may add" Blair defended herself. She was exhausted by that accusation. Every time it made sound what she had done, even more and more stupid. Did it really happen?

"Twice" Serena specified.

"Again? The second time it was a coverage"

"Didn't you two have a connection?" Serena quoted her.

"Of course Serena!" Blair yelled "Me and Dan are connected, but I also have a connection with Nate, and with you and with my beautician!" Eric was puzzled, looking at her, Chuck was hiding a laugh.

"But you kissed him for the second time, without telling me!"

"I kissed him again because I knew that I wouldn't have felt anything and I was right".

"Hold on just a moment, please" Dan interrupted the argument "Serena you were with Ben! You brought him at my loft! You didn't tell me you loved me!".

"You left me first because you had to write. You fallen for my best friend and you slept with my cousin!" Serena replied, letting her pain come to the surface.

"Hey guys, I don't think this is the right place to remember the past" Nate tried to stop them.

"You! Cover boy!" the palmist was pointing at him. He turned at her with a confused expression. Daphne couldn't contain herself and started laughing.

"You're trapped between family and personal wishes"

"How do you know that?" he asked.

"Never have doubts"

"You know that Nate has problems with his grandfather?" Blair was grumpy. It wasn't possible, that information was not in her plan either.

"I also know that you left a prince" the palmist turned toward her.

"Easy. That was on every paper" Dan played down.

"Yes, but she left him because she's in love with another man, someone too stubborn to realize how scared to trust him again she is" Chuck ears hoisted while all the eyes in the room were gazing at Blair.

"What are you talking about?" Blair was doing her best to stay calm and understand what was happening. What does she knew about her fears toward Chuck? That was impossible!

With the corner of the eye she could catch the victorious glare Daphne was giving her. It couldn't be.

"Surprise!" Daphne explained, enjoying the scene.

"I can't believe this!" Blair mumbled under her breath.

"It was noble for you, trying to ruin my reputation publicly, Blair"

"I told you, you weren't welcome" Blair threatened her.

"And, if I recall, I advised you to stay away from me"

"I would have done it if I hadn't known that you had sex with my boyfriend" Blair yelled at her. Daphne opened her eyes wide.

"So, this is the reason why you hired this woman to record me with the camera hidden in the corner so you could blackmail me?" There was a mix of confusion and surprise in Daphne's question. Eric started to look around to find the weapon of the crime.

"Don't try to play the saint with me! I know everything about you" Blair didn't back down.

"All right Blair" Chuck interrupted her with the intent to prove her, but his expression was too calm to made him look like someone surprised. "Why don't you enlighten up with the theory that you and the insignificant Humphrey over there have tailored?"

"Have I ever told you how much you disgust me, Chuck Bass?" she replied killing him with her eyes.

"Several times" he commented with sarcasm.

"Don't be cocky! She preferred someone else to you, too!" Chuck's face stiffened.

"At least she didn't look for him in the Brooklyn sewerage" he was a fury.

"Hey! You're talking about me! I'm here!" Dan tried to speak, without success.

"Dan is not a cheater" Blair couldn't stop at the point of the conversation.

"Really? If remember I correctly, he cheated on Serena with Georgina, then he came back with Serena and he cheated on her with her teacher, before coming back to Georgina. Then it was Olivia's time, who he cheated on with Vanessa, who he chose in the end, while he was still thinking about Serena. He cheated at Vanessa with Serena but he didn't leave Vanessa, even if he wanted Serena instead, and when Serena looked him with poppy dog eyes he didn't want Vanessa anymore to have Serena back. But when Serena wanted him too, he wanted you, her best friend. I think I said everything"

"It was not like that"- Dan defended himself.

"Did I forget Cece?" Chuck smirked.

"No, my cousin" Serena specified.

"Shut up!" Blair stopped him "you're accusing him because he said the truth about you" Blair kept on talking without caring about Dan anymore.

"The truth?" Chuck smirked "We are all curious to know this truth. Come on"

"I don't understand... Blair believes that you cheated on her with Daphne?" Nate asked, turning toward Chuck astonished. Chuck nodded. Serena shook her head while Daphne stared worried at Chuck, understanding too many things.

"Who told her this bullshit?" Nate was completely lost.

"Dan" it was Daphne to answer, well aware also of all the behind the scene activities.

"Blair, you can't believe it! This is not true!" Serena commented. Blair had many reasons about Chuck's bad behaviours, but he hadn't cheated on Blair with Daphne. She could have swear it.

"Thanks Serena" Chuck was glad to know that someone was still capable to rationalize. Blair observing the sincerity of her best friend turned her gaze over Chuck.

His caramel brown eyes lightened when they met hers. She was used to read that gaze as sincerity and pureness. Was everything a big misunderstanding?

"Blair you can't believe him!" Dan spoke to her.

"Humphrey, Stay out of this!" Chuck admonished him cruelly.

"Come on Blair, you were unhappy with him" Dan kept on talking.

"If you don't believe me now Blair, to me, you won't exist anymore" Chuck said those words slowly. He wanted to be clear once and for all. The tones in the room were changing, everyone could feel it. It wasn't the cat and mouse game anymore.

Blair couldn't speak, she just stared at Chuck with watering eyes. She didn't know what to say or do. Was she really ready to trust him again?

"Blair..- Chuck invited her again, noting her uncertainty.

"We all know what's going to happen Blair" Dan was still talking to her "You two will make peace and then you'll find him cutting out paper hearts and declaring the world to someone else". He was there with her behind that curtain on the Valentine's Day.

"What the hell do you want from me Humphrey?" Chuck yelled to him, trying with every fiber of his being not to punch him in front of everyone.

"She deserves much better than you Chuck" the pauper answered without showing any kind of hesitation. But the only thing that mattered to Chuck, was Blair's silence. He closed his eyes because he couldn't show how much that hit and hurt him.

"Is this what YOU think Blair?" he finally asked her, finding the courage to open his eyes again. Blair stood speechless. He kept on staring at her, who was looking back, trying to find the answer. It killed him.

"I shouldn't have come to Paris" he cut the conversation, staring into her eyes for the last time. Then he lower his gaze and walked out the room. He had closed her the door to his heart, forever.

"Chuck! Stop!" Nate ran after him.

* * *

"I can't understand how we've got to this place" Serena was shocked "No one has ever loved you the way he does"

"I agree, You heart knows it, no one else" the palmist nodded toward Blair.

"Do you believe that she had to come back with him?" Dan asked her.

"You're such an idiot Dan! I paid that woman to humiliate Daphne! She's an actress" Blair cried out to him, pissed at his continuous interferences.

"You did?" he asked as if he still hadn't realized it yet.

"Are you disoriented Dan? You can't believe that your sweet and pure Blair can do something so bad?" Daphne wanted to say it so badly and finally break the ball he was living in.

"You did all of this, with the purpose of humiliate me!" Blair accused Daphne.

"I did this to defend myself. I've told you to leave me out of this"

"Blair, please..." Dan tried to touch her.

"When are you going to get it?! This is none of your business ,Humphrey!" Blair avoided him e turned again against Daphne.

"You wanted him to leave me forever! But don't get too excited, you'll never have what we had!" she was mad.

"If it was so special, why do you fear me so much Blair?" Daphne provoked her.

"Don't answer her, Blair" Dan interrupted them again.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Blair ordered him with all her strength. She had enough about him, so she looked at Daphne who was staring back at her with a fierce gaze while a small group of guests was approaching them. She couldn't stay there anymore in that condition, she had to think about her reputation.

"I'm not finished yet" she told her enemy and then, with her head held high she turned her heels and walked out without caring for the people watching her.

"You love her.." it was Serena who broke the silence after Blair's disappearance. She was looking at Dan with a distressed face. He didn't move.

"Wh-what? Serena don't be silly!" he tried to explain.

"And I've even felt guilty for my affair with Ben"

"I'm tired of talking about this Serena" he turned her off. She felt it.

"You're right" she composed herself "it's such a waste of time!" and she left .

"Can you pass me the cards?" the fake palmist, asked Eric, who was still at his seating.

When he took Chuck and Blair cards he found out that they've chosen the same ones: the destiny and the lovers.

Daphne stared at the cards as if she had been punched by someone.

_**When I was 15 years old, a palmist read my hand. She darkened immediately and I realized that the time for the simple things was over. I fell in love with the saddest boy I've ever met and I gave him all of myself. I accepted to live our love secretly. I couldn't control what I was feeling and sometimes it wasn't enough. The palmist ended the session, telling me that ' running away wouldn't have changed anything': if two people are meant to be together, they always find a way back to each other. On one thing she was right. While I was pretending to look ahead, the truth was that I was just going back.**_

* * *

_****_ I want to thank who's reading this fic and for the reviews! Just have faith in Chuck and Blair! ;)

In the next chapter you'll found out more about Daphne and her relationship with Chuck, together with a big surprise!

A big thanks goes to Cry for her support and her help!


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Father's mistakes**

_**People used to think that our world was full of double personalities, hidden lifes, unresolved mysteries, inexplicable catastrophes and enigmas. My life could have been compared to an enchanted castle where everyone were looking for its ghost. And in some kind of ways, they were right. I had skeletons in my closet: I couldn't deny it, and I didn't want to share them or to show them. But frankly, who didn't have them?**_

"Miss Blair, Miss Bright on telephone" Blair's head popped up from the covers. She hadn't left her room in days and she had rejected any kind of food, refused to read papers and magazines, ordering Dorota to shut down the Wi-Fi to be completely unreachable.

She just wanted to take her crown back at the party, but she had dug her grave instead, where she was lying, contemplating all the terrible and humiliating news the newspapers were obviously writing about her. Make such a poor showing At the Harvey's party? That had been an unforgettable indecency.

She removed her eye mask and stared at the phone with hesitation. She had been waiting for that call for days, quite aware about the reasons. It was clear that Destiny was laughing at her.

"If want, tell her, Miss Blair's out" Dorota proposed her, taking the phone against her chest to protected it from her. Those were days when Blair needed to stay very far away from all her problems.

That act made Blair lose her patience. She sat up and urged her to give her the phone. Dorota looked worried, she was challenging her with her gaze.

"Miss Blair, sure?" she tried for the last time. Blair puffed and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Dorota don't make a scene! Everything is fine! Give me the phone" she ordered, parading serenity. Dorota did as asked.

"What are you still doing here?" Blair asked her, realizing that Dorota hadn't moved from the room.

"Go, prepare my bath! I'm going to spend the rest of my life closed here, but I don't intend to stink like a mummy" Dorota shook her head and walked to the bathroom.

When the domestic was out of sight, Blair faked a big smile and answered the phone.

"Meredith"she greeted. She hated her: she was his boss' wife, and an entire roost was more clever than her.

"Dear Blair, I hope I'm not bothering you" a crackly voice perforated Blair's eardrum.

"Don't be silly! Your calls are always appreciated" the kindness she was using surprised herself.

"So, I've spoken with my husband" Blair's face turned grave. It was grieve. Her public life was completely blurred. She could already read the papers titles. "Blair Waldorf, after the shame at The Harvey's Foundation, the firing".

"But.." she rushed her. Get rid of the cause, get rid of the problem, it was what Cyrus usually said.

"He didn't listen. He's convinced that replacing you is the right thing to do" a huge sense of delusion owned Blair. It couldn't be possible. That was her life. She had been the one who had given luster to that magazine. She had transformed its staff into professional fashion journalists. Blair Waldorf. In a single year.

"I did everything for this magazine. Because of me it is one of the 5 most read magazine in Australia" Blair replied defending her job.

"Blair"

"I don't need to remind you what I've done for you and I'm willing to to do anything in my power to keep my position".

"I know, sweetheart, that's the reason why I convinced him to give you a last chance" Blair spread the covers and stood up. It was certainly Easter because she could feel the bells ringing in her ears.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked with a malicious smile.

"We've heard that miss Harvery is in New York" Blair froze. Obviously that harpy had found out on the papers that she had make an ass of herself in front of Daphne. Just the thought of her name, made her fume of anger and humiliation.

"I heard it too" she pretended to be neutral.

"The Fundation Party has been a..." The woman started the sentence. Was it a joke?

"A big regrettable misunderstanding" Blair interrupted her, anxiously. "…If you are talking about that little theater. You know the press quite well. They fabricate everything" Blair justified herself. She should have read the papers, instead of hiding herself under the covers. The women on the other line, didn't speak for a while.

"Darling I have no idea of what you're talking about. The New York times defined it 'the most regal event in the Upper East Side's story'. I didn't know that you were attending"

"You didn't?" Blair couldn't understand. Her miserable tentative to regain control wasn't on every paper?

"No. Are you sure you're ok Blair? I sense some sort of stress"

"Stressed? No! Actually, I've never felt better" So what's up for me?" Blair asked her, feeling lighter than ever. Her public reputations was intact.

"You have to collect a few private information about Daphne Harvey. Her grandparents usually attend all the events, but... it's a few months now they're disappeared. The grandfather sometimes makes an exit, but his wife is completely out of sight. On the other hand, Daphne is always around with the newyorker multi billionaire Chuck Bass, even if they don't seem so close as they pretend. I want to know what they're hiding" Blair stiffened.

Chuck, Daphne, the Harvey. 3 words that swirled on and on in her head.

"I'm the boss of a fashion magazine, I don't write about gossip" she icy answered the woman. Thinking about them made her sick. She wanted to close herself inside the room and never leave it.

"Recently Her family has bought the 30% of our society, and since that moment on all the board take her grandmother's opinion as the truth" Blair was paying attention to every word. However she didn't reply.

"Blair, Do you know who's going to participate the board meeting next week, when your firing we'll be put on votes? Daphne Harvey" that was out of the blue.

She hated that girl with all the strength. She had ruined her life. She was more beauty, more clever, more powerful, she had stolen all her friends affection and Chuck. She couldn't bare it. She felt her heart in her throat, remembering her last few encounters with him. And she was even firing her. It was sure. She couldn't have pity for her after the party she had almost ruined. She had to stop her. Blair Waldorf could not be crushed by that girl. Blair Waldorf didn't even need her pity.

"I want you to discover all her secrets, so we'll control the board and we won't fire you" the woman explained her mission.

That sounded perfect, in Blair's mind. There wasn't something better than a big family secret for a revenge.

"Blair? Are you there?"

"Have I ever told you that Daphne and I, know each other pretty well? I'm pretty sure that there won't be problems" Blair was lightened by this opportunity. It was her moment. Daphne had won the battle but she'd win the war and save New York from the enemy.

"Very good! In this case, you should be able to find out if what people think, it's true"

"Tell me everything" Blair was more than pleased to have any kind of information.

"Voices tell me that her grandmother disappeared because of Daphne" Blair couldn't stop but think about Dan's information. She could have bet all her money about the fact that Nicholas had something to do with all that enigma.

"Can I trust you Blair?" the woman on the phone wanted to be sure.

"Meredith, my dear. I own Manhattan. Finding something like this, for me is like putting the polish on my nails" she was galvanized by the mission.

"Dorota!" she shouted when she ended the call "I know you're hiding behind the door! Is the bath ready? And find the new Chanel dress we bought, I'm going out for breakfast"

"no, work, and mister Chuck if go behind Miss Daphne" Dorota adviced her when she appeared from the bathroom. Blair was brushing her hair in front of the mirror. Dorota saw her reaction.

"Mr Chuck? Who think about him anymore?" she faked indifference.

Dorota shooked her head. It was the same old story. Denial.

"And, Before you leave, bring me all the newspapers of the week"

* * *

"Why are you dressed?" he asked her, entering the kitchen in his blue silken pajama. He still smelled of alcohol, but at least he was out of the bed.

"I'm having breakfast out" Daphne explained, without laughing in front of him. She didn't know why, but there was something about him, his being so tormented, that made him look ironic.

"With Serena?"

"With Blair" she corrected him, telling her name as if having breakfast with Blair was the most common thing in the world. With the corner of her eyes caught him swallow and stiffen his jaw.

"And since when you two have breakfast together?" he sat in front of her, taking the coffee.

"Since today" she answered, staring at him with curiosity.

"You really believe that Blair wants to have breakfast with you?" he obviously didn't. It was clear to him, that Daphne didn't know Blair, or at least that she was underrating her.

"The fact that you and Blair have unresolved situations, doesn't mean that I can't have breakfast with her"

Chuck stared back at her. He was trying to say something but then he shook his head. If the world had realized how noble Daphne was, nobody would have put her on charge of one of the most important empire in the world. She was too kind. Too naïve.

"If you want to play Jumanjii with her, then do it" he dismissed the conversation. She would have realized his reasons on her own, very soon.

"Are you sure?" she insisted.

"Do whatever you want with Blair" he stood up and headed toward the other table to put the Italian grappa in his orange juice.

"So, you're telling me that it doesn't bother you?"

"Should it?" he asked, pretending. Hell yes, it mattered to him, that 2 of the 4 most important women in his life could bond.

"Yes, I think, it should as you've been closed in your room since the last time you've spoken to her!"

"There's only one right thing in your sentence: the last time" he said trying to stop the fire that kept on burning in his stomach at Blair's charges.

"So, this is the end?" she provoked him.

"Look... Blair and I are just a weak memory of a completely wrong page of our lives. We tore it off. It doesn't exist anymore" he seemed relaxed. She listened to him carefully.

"Is this the reason you went to Paris?" she asked with no regrets. He stiffened. Hit and sunk. Again.

"I don't want to be rude, but you've just gave me a terrible headache" he left the glass on the table and left the room.

* * *

"Have you been waiting for long?" Daphne apologized while entering the Italian bar to have breakfast with Blair.

"Wait? No! Don't worry, I've just arrived too" Blair reached her with a cordial smile.

"If you don't mind I made a reservation for the table next to the window" Daphne explained watching the waiter that was calling them.

"The one with the red sofas?" Blair was surprised. She loved that place.

"That one. But if you don't like it, we can change" Daphne reassured her kindly.

"No! I adore it" she replied quickly "I used to come here with..." She had started that sentence with such a spontaneity that she had forget who she was talking about, so when his name came to her mouth she stopped.

"Chuck?" Daphne anticipated her "You can talk about him. His name doesn't carry the black plague" she joked. Blair smiled a little just to please her. Cyrus syndrome was spreading faster than she had ever thought.

It was when they had sit at the table that Blair spoke again.

"I'm really glad that Charles is not a problem. You know... what we had was important, but it has got to its end. They say... men are like glasses. When one is gone, other 100 are ready to be bought" Blair was hating her boss with all herself. It was certainly a problem being in front of that girl and being obliged to say those things.

"Don't tell Chuck. You'd destroy his ego" The light way Daphne had said it, made Blair turn into his natural way.

"Just that?" she replied without thinking.

"What can I bring you?" the waiter was reaching their table-

"For me a cappuccino"

"The same" Blair added.

"I've been pleased too by your invitation Blair" Daphne begun.

"Well, it was useless being at war with such a precious resource. So, I wanted to make myself forgettable" Blair pretended to be sincere, while deep inside her heart she wanted to humiliate her as much as she'd done to her.

"You didn't need to"

"I haven't met you family yet" Blair turned the dialog on her interest. She had to became her friend and became someone trustworthy, that was the only way to became her confident.

"My grandparent are busy" Daphne was vague, almost pissed.

"I can only imagine how much you miss them. Didn't you grow up alone with them?" Blair needed to know more.

"Yes" there were no other words. The way she was reacting allowed Blair to think that she was on her defensive mood.

"My mother is always away. Now she's living in Paris with Cyrus, her second husband" in order to know someone's secrets she needed to give something in change.

"I've heard" Daphne sipped her cappuccino.

"Lily said you're in charge of your family business"

"Just the Foundation, while my grandfather is the head of the family empire with his new 'trainee'" Blair's ears straighten up.

"Your grandmother doesn't manage the Foundation anymore?" she was trying to seem surprised.

"She needed a vacation" Daphne smiled but Blair could catch a facade.

"Where?"

"What?" Daphne was irritated.

"Where is your grandmother on vacation?"

"A Spa"

"I've read somewhere that India is the perfect place to knock off work and relax" Blair wanted to sound neutral.

"Ok, stop!" in a second Daphne became firm and resolute "This situations is starting to annoy me. Do you really hate me so much to try another way to threaten me?" Blair wrong footed.

"I don't understand" Blair kept on pretending, but it was the second time that Daphne anticipated her.

"When I received you call this morning I was so sure that you were making a step towards me. But, as someone has advised me, I was wrong" Daphne was really disappointed.

"What did you think? That I'd let you live in my city, take everything away from me and applaud you?" Blair exploded taking away the mask of false friendship she had worn all the time. She had enough. She hated her.

"I didn't steal anything from anyone. And, by the way, it is not because of me, if you're losing your job" Blair went pale. It was a moment, she remembered the phone call of the morning: she was attending the board in the place of her grandmother and she was going to vote her dismissal.

"If you want to dismiss me, than do it now" Blair provoked her. Daphne seemed astonished, but her phone started ringing. Something in her mood changed. She was restless, taking it out and answering it, like something worried her.

"Chuck I was just asking Blair..." Blair observed her. Chuck had just said something really important to stop her sentence and made her pale.

"I have to go" she simply said, standing up quickly from her seat "But Blair, we're not over yet"

Oh, you can count on it" Blair replied, letting her go. When she couldn't see her, she followed her. She was hiding something and she'd found out what.

_**My mother abandoned me when I was 4 months. I could say that I didn't even know how she looked like because no one talked about her. It stayed the same till a spring day, when she appeared on my door. I was 9 years old, my heart was beating fast: my mother was back for me. However, my father and my grandparents, who knew her better, made everything in their power to take her away from me. They were right. As she came back, she left so fast that I couldn't even memorize her smile.**_

_**I spent days, staring out of the window, waiting for her to come back. I convinced myself that she'd do it. And she did it, 5 years later, when my father died, but I didn't want her anymore. I pretended that I didn't care about her, that I hated her for abandon me. I was so disappointed that I could only lie: I needed my mother so much that I needed her to beg me for her love. And she didn't. She left me again, telling me that it was for my best. When I discovered that she'd done the same with my only brother, my heart broke twice: I've had my grandparent's love.**__**He had grown up alone instead**_.

"Her condition was stable but..."

"But, What?" Mr Harvey asked firmly, staring at his son, waiting for the only answer he'd hope never to receive.

"Dad... the therapies have weaken her" he stared, pondering every single word "her heart arrested, we had to reanimate her" Mr Harvey shook his head and sat. His leg were weak. It was like the earth was trembling under his feet.

"What does it mean?" Daphne spoke, knowing that his grandfather wasn't able to continue.

"She recovered a bit, but it's still possible for her condition to get worse, and we need to do a few more exams to find out if the heart attack left further complications"

Chuck reached Daphne's hand and tightened it. The uncle sat on his desk and threw his head in his hands. They owned the best hospital of the city, he was one of the most famous doctor all over the world, but he had never thought he'd have to save his mother's life.

"Are you telling me that she's going to die?" on the outside Mr Harvey was calm, but the tone of his voice disclosed his image of strong business man, able to resolve any kind of situation.

The uncle didn't answer. That was the higher risk. There were tons of cases and he had seen on himself many times with different patients. But she was his mother, they were his family, who cared about cases and statistics?

"We need to pray for her" and then he said it. He had done his best and there was nothing left to do, but hope and have faith.

"There must be something else to do... let's call some other specialists or start a new therapy..." Chuck wasn't sure. Staying there, knowing that someone who loved him was leaving him again was destroying him. He couldn't bare the emptiness in his stomach anymore, the anger for the lost part of his life that, while was becoming true, was already fading away.

"Charles...there's nothing left to do, but wait" The uncle replied immediately "Till tomorrow morning when she'll wake up from the pharmacological coma" he took a deep breath.

"This is unfair John" his father stared at him " you can't let her leave me. You have to save her" he ordered him with broken voice. He had always been a direct and clear man, but that was a command of a destroyed man, the desire expressed out loud, guided by his impossibility to accept this changing. He was losing her forever.

"Grandpa" Daphne's hand touched his elbow to reassure him. He suddenly took her hand and tightened it. He needed her. He needed to know that he wasn't alone, that there was something in his life he could hold on to. "Grandma is strong, She'll be fine" she pretended to be sure, exchanging a gaze with her uncle.

Trying to stop her tears she turned toward her grandfather who was isolating himself in his own world, the hand still firmly entangled with hers, but a lost gaze.

Then she turned toward Chuck who was breathing in and out, trying to gain control and avoid his pain to come to the surface. She needed to be strong, to support the men of her life because she knew that If something terrible would have happened to her grandmother, they couldn't survive on their own.

* * *

"Blair?" Nate's voice coming from behind her back, scared her. She turned toward him, hitting him with all her strength and pushing him in the nearer closet of the hospital hallway, to avoid a nurse.

She had convinced the guards at the entrance that she was a Daphne's friend. She had never seen so much security in an hospital suite. Of course, that was the Harvey's flagship hospital of the world, but when she had seen Daphne entering that area, about half an hour before, she had started to think that she'd found out something worse than what she'd expected. When the nurse was out of sight, she liberated him and went out of the closet.

"What are you doing here Blair?" he asked her. The fact that Nate was there, connected with Chuck's call worried her.

"Did something happened to Chuck?" she asked him back, her heart beating fast. Did he have an accident? Was he shoot again? All those thoughts made her panic.

"Ehy" Nate placed his hands on her shoulders to calm her down "He's fine, I came here with him" Blair let out a relief breath.

"The thing is, what are you doing here?" he asked her again.

What she was going to tell him? She was in a private area, full of guards and with no ways out. She needed an idea.

"I'm paying a visit to a Dorota's relative" she cursed in silence, hoping that Nate could believe her. He looked confused.

"No one is allowed to this area, unless it's family" something in his words told her she was reaching the truth.

"And since when you, Nathalien Archibald, are family with the Harveys?" she puzzled pointed out.

"I've accompanied Chuck" he was so honest that made it seem like the most expected thing in the world.

"Right... I've forgotten that Chuck is a member of the family" she sadly admitted more to herself than to him. That rankled her. Chuck was there for Daphne, with her, because she was his family.

"Blair, I'm sorry but I don't think it's right moment to start this conversation" Nate cut, watching over her. Right there she realized she was a fish out of the water. She went pale.

What was she doing? It was in a stark place, trying to destroy someone just because of her own selfishness and jealousy. Chuck was over her, he loved someone else. She was just hurting herself.

"You're right" she glance down. She wanted to cry and go away from there "I think I'm in the wrong ward" she couldn't allow him to read through her real feelings. But Nate didn't answer her, he stared behind her back with a serious gaze.

"Nathaniel, what are you still doing here?" that was a male voice she haven't heard before.

"Mr Harvey, how is she?" Nate made a step toward the man, while Blair panicked.

Daphne's grandfather was right behind her back. She took all the courage to turn toward him. Everyone talked about him as a financial legend, and the fact that he was reluctant to take pictures, made that single moment an event. It was her possibility to associate such an eminent name to his face. But when she finally saw him, her mouth wide opened. He was utterly different from her fantasies. He wasn't that tall or full bodied, he was thin and light middleweight, perfectly dressed in his tailored suit. His jaw was well defined, white hair and caramel eyes. He reminded... Chuck, an older version of Chuck.

That wasn't possible. That was certainly an aberration.

"It's going to be a long night" he simply replied, glancing down. He had a warm low voice. She still didn't know what was going on, but watching that man in that kind of state made her heart ache.

He absolutely didn't look like the esteemed and awards winning magnate, heir of one of the largest fortune of the bank business. He was miserable, not shaved, big bags under his eyes, disheveled, creased clothes, the loosen bowtie and a suffering gaze.

"Who's your friend?" he asked Nate, turning toward her. Blair couldn't stop staring back at him. His eyes were reassuring and warm. He was magnetic.

"Mr. Harvey.." she tried to introduce herself, but she didn't know what to say or how.

"You meet Blair Waldorf" Nate ended her sentence. The man watched her as if he was remembering something, than he reached her and took her hand to kiss its palm.

It was like a flash: Chuck was touching her hand and kissing it. She must have gone crazy, she thought. It couldn't be.

"Blair, I'm sorry for introducing myself in such a bad circumstance. I hope you don't mind If I avoid any kind of formalities. You're family" that man was talking to her as if he'd know her since years.

She simply nodded because, even if she'd wanted, she couldn't find reasonable words.

"I've heard about your wife" Nate started talking again. He had known all the news from Daphne. Blair's ears straightened.

That was the reason why she was there at the hospital, Blair thought. The grandmother was sick.

"She's in coma" the older explained with a suffered voice "her condition is serious. My son said that if she won't survive the night..." he glanced down at his hands, the eyes full of tears.

Blair wanted to cry too. She was realizing all the games her bosses could play, using this pain. She disgusted it.

"I'm really sorry" Nate sincerity was palpable.

"I'm happy that my nephews have you here, to support them" in spite of all, he could still find a positive though "I'm so worried about Charles" Blair couldn't breath .

Nephew. Charles. The earth opened under her feet. Was this old man Chuck's grandfather? Did Chuck have the Harvey's dna? Chuck had a family. He had grandparents. The woman into surgery was his grandmother and she was dying. Chuck had a family and she didn't know it because she had run away from him, because she had wasted her time accusing him instead of asking him how he was doing.

"Chuck" she said his name out loud. It was all like a puzzle that she needed to fill.

"We've wasted so much time with him..." the man kept on talking "my wife had just convinced him to move in with us... she was so happy to have him in her life..." his feeling, opened a hole in her heart.

His grandmother was in the room next to him, fighting for life. She knew Chuck deep into her chore. She knew what he was feeling. It was always the same devastating sensation that had grown up with him. Losing, always, everywhere, in anyway. Losing till getting lost and die inside.

"Dad?" a voice from another room called him, waking all them up from their thoughts.

"Excuse me" Mr. Harvey looked at her one last time before leaving the hallway.

Blair was exhausted. She closed her eyes to control all the different feelings that were growing inside of her. All she could think about was Chuck. His sorrow. His loneliness. All the accuses she had moved toward him.

"Now you know" Nate was in front of her "Daphne is Chuck's sister. Elisabeth abandoned her too and kept it a secret. They both discovered it last summer"

Blair was silent while the tears were raining down her checks. Nate held her close, she was trembling.

"Go to him" he invited her "he's taking everyone out"

* * *

He sat on the sofa in his uncle's office.

She had a flashback of her mother's wedding when she had found him crouched on her bed. He had cried in her arms for hours, holding her tight, scared by the chance of being lonely.

But right there he wasn't crying, even though his eyes were swollen, the first button of his shirt and his tie opened to breath.

He was motionless, gazing into space. She could read through him, read his mind and what she could see made her ache. She had to lean against the door figuring out what to do.

Then, as he had sensed her presence, he had glanced down and up to her. He wasn't wondering what she was doing there, what she knew or even what he wanted from her. He simply stared at her, who was staring back at him speechless.

He could have rejected her the same way he had done for many years. But he didn't. On the other hand, like that night, he surprised her. He lowered his gaze and got lost in his own thoughts again.

Blair closed her eyes taking her emotion under control. She couldn't fall, she needed to be the strong one. She took a deep breath and approached him.

Sitting next to him, she could observe his profile, how the sufferance changed his features.

She wanted to hold him closer, swear him that everything was going to be fine, but she knew it wasn't the right time. Baby steps.

She placed her left hand softly on his right shoulder while her other hand was reaching his right fist hand.

He could sense her movements and gazed at her hand getting close to his.

A war exploded inside of his heart while her hand was tightening on his and he couldn't look somewhere else. Letting her enter in his world or closing her out? He took his time before opening, granting her the access slowly.

It was a slow motion.

He opened his hand to her, letting their fingers intertwine and tighten firmly. He stared at them, feeling that touch while a tear came down his cheek. That was the moment when she got closer and leaned her forehead against his.

She didn't know how long ago, but when she opened her eyes and saw someone at the door she realized that they had fallen asleep. When she opened her eyes wide she recognized Daphne. She was worn out, and for the first time, behind her mask of perfection, Blair could see a little and fragile girl, who was just carrying an heavy bag on her shoulder, heavier than she should have.

"I need to leave for a while... My grandmothers' condition isn't serious anymore" she was talking in a whisper "can you tell him?" with her eyes she pointed at Chuck who was still fast asleep in her arms, with his head on her shoulder, and his hand firmly tied in hers.

Blair nodded, taking a relief breath. She glanced down at Chuck. Later she'd tell him this beautiful news, but not in that very moment when she could hold him.

She leaned closer to kiss his forehead before realizing that Daphne was still there, observing them.

A small smile pictured her face. It was the first time Blair noticed that Chuck and Daphne had the same eyes.

* * *

"Why are you in New York?" she asked him coldly, speaking on her phone. She was looking at him from his limo, parked not too far from the place he wanted to meet her. Nicholas was walking nervously down the edge of the Brooklyn bridge.

"Why aren't you here?" he replied. He was clearly disappointed.

"Because I'm not in the mood to see you" she answered trying to read his reaction from the distance.

"Daphne.. Please... let me be there for you. Don't you remember? If one of us falls, the other one falls as well"

Daphne closed her eyes to hold the tears. She breathed deeply.

"I want you gone" she pretended to be imperative.

"You're lying" he knew it better.

"Nicholas.. Please... let me move on... let me live" she was sobbing, but it didn't matter. He needed to hear it, she needed to ask him.

He stayed in silence for a few seconds. He was contemplating those words. They were boulders on him.

"I'm here for you" he spoke surrendering.

"I know" she conceded, but she couldn't accept it.

"I'll stay in New York for a few days" he told her. It was his way to remind her that he was there if she needed.

Than they both stayed speechless.

"I need to go" all their unsolved feeling were filling his the silence. He had to end the call and run away.

"Daphne.." he stopped her. He wanted to say something "Will you forgive me?" her stomach wormed. The memories of their past hit her.

"It's too late" she switched the phone off, before letting it fall from her trembling hand.

She couldn't look for his reaction while the limo was leaving.

_**The world thought that Chuck was the damned and bad boy and Blair was the evil and spoiled girl of New York. They were used to watch them, but they couldn't see through them. Being able to understand Chuck and Blair for what they really were, was difficult because you just couldn't forgive their past and because, both of them, wanted you to forgive it. I was surprised to realize that, yes, they were two vindictive and total jerks as it was said, but they were as fragile and deep as a few.**__**They were special and they belonged together.**_

* * *

As you can see Chuck and Daphne are not together!

Are you Surprised about Chuck and Daphne's secrets? let me know what you think ;)

In the next Chapter there will be a deep Chair scene and you'll meet Chuck's grandmother!

I want to thank everyone is reading and following this fics!

A very special thaks goes to Cry, who has always had emotional problems with this chapter! Thank you so much for your work!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**ENCOUNTERS**

_**My grandmother was a charming woman. You just needed to look at her to fall in love. She always knew what to say and how to say it. She made anyone comfortable and at the same time she knew how to hit people where it hurt the most. She wasn't gross, eccentric or overstated, but she was loyal and brave. She had cried many times in her life, but she had also raised up again, learning how to walk with her head high. When I was a baby, I dreamed to be like her. I used to hide in her closet and wear her clothes and shoes, always stumbling into them. When I grew up I realized that I couldn't be like her. I didn't want to be her, I was just glad to have her in my life.**_

She went there every day but she'd never found him there. He didn't answer her calls, and even at the Empire he was nowhere to be found. She knew she was wasting her time but she needed to see him, she desperately needed to look into his eyes to realize if they still had a chance.

She mustered up courage and reached the hallway of the ward where his grandmother was hospitalized.

"Good morning Miss Waldorf" the body guard welcomed her. She felt home. Chuck's uncle had advised them that she was allowed to the area, anytime. That thing had make her feel accepted.

She smiled and nodded, while he was making her room to get into the off limits ward of the family's hospital.

"Miss Blair, you're here, even today!". It was the uncle who met her first.

Blair nodded, blushing. It was not just the fact that, in the land of the Harvey's, they called her with her own name, something that would have turned Penelope and Iz green with envy, but also the fact that they knew exactly the reasons why she was there. Probably they thought about her as a deluded.

"I can say it in my Family's name: we're really glad of your support Miss. Blair" she thanked her sincerely.

"It was my pleasure" the tone of her voice didn't reveal any kind of hesitation. She was doing it for Chuck. She would have done anything for him. Their story proved it.

"Come on. I'll walk you" he got close to show her the way toward Mrs. Harvey hospital suite.

This man looked strange to her. He didn't look like his father. He had light hair and green eyes. Nobody would have told, that he was Elisabeth's brother. In spite of his kindly, taciturn but always smiling nature, he gave the idea of a skilled man, who was carrying the world on his back, which made him look older than his 45 years old.

"How's your mother?" she asked, as she id every morning.

"Since when she came out of the intensive therapy, she's getting better every day. It's a miracle".

It was clear to Blair, that that woman had something really special. Every single member of the family seemed tied to her in an intimate bond of adoration and respect. She could tell it by the way they talked about her. It was devotion, unconditional love. She had never seen such a tight knit family, so close while facing a tragedy, so strong in its sorrow. If she thought about her own past, no one of her friends g had ever had such a living family. Neither she, with her mother, Dorota and her 3 dads.

"That's a wonderful news" she was really happy to know it.

"If everything goes this way, next week we'll dismiss her" he anticipated her. She took a relief breath. Chuck's nightmare was coming to an end.

She could sense his joy. The morning when Daphne had asked her to tell Chuck that their grandmother was better, she couldn't stop but crying, watching Chuck and his grandfather hugging each other.

That was Chuck's family, the one he had always dreamed about between Bart's disappointment and Christmas without gifts. She wanted to ask him how he had found them, how he could have known Daphne for years without knowing that she was his bloody sister, how they welcomed him, how he had felt in that moment when his entire life had changed for good.

She glanced down at the floor, carried away by her thoughts. If his grandmother was feeling better that would have meant that she had lost every possible excuses to get in touch with him. She needed to talk to him so badly. She had never realized how much she had missed his presence in her daily routine, how much she needed him in her world, to share her emotions with him. However, deep inside of her, she knew that she wouldn't have her answers, because, even if he had allowed her to stand by his side that night, since the day after, he had rejected her every possible connection. She knew him better, she had expected it, but being left out of his life, hurt her, most of all when she had finally decided she wanted to be a part of it again.

Daphne had disappeared too. Lily told her, Daphne had business meetings abroad to attend to, but she would have been back in few days.

Blair had to apologize. She didn't know what to do with her job, but she had been really terrible to her. Her envy and jealousy had blinded her. She had gained knowledge that, in spite of all her actions, Daphne had protected her: she had hidden the palmist theatre to the press and she had put her on the hospital list many days before her bed behavior. Blair Waldorf had made it all wrong. She hadn't even tried to understand what that girl was facing alone: an hidden past, a dead father, a bitch of a mother, a sick grandmother, her family business, a family name to protect and a new brother to support.

"Blair" a voice interrupted her thoughts. Mr Harvey was right in front of her.

She was getting used to his presence. Every day, when he found her in the hallway and informed her that Chuck wasn't there, he used to invite her for breakfast.

His was a kind person, in some strange kind of ways, he reminded her of Cyrus. Even if, like his son, he was taciturn, the charm in his eyes and in his gestures gave the sense of a natural familiarity. However his physical resemblance with Chuck was incredible. He crossed his legs the same way, he had the same taste in clothing, the same shy way to smile gazing down, the same penetrating gaze, always focused on his speaker, as well as the same low and warm voice.

She wondered if Chuck would have been the same if had grown up following the model of someone like him, who wouldn't have ignored him or made him felt like a failure for his entire life.

"Good morning Mr Harvey" she greeted him with a smile.

"You shouldn't waste your time coming here every day" he admonished her, getting close.

"I've heard the good news. I'm really happy she's feeling better" at her words, his eyes lightened and he was unable to contain the smile.

"It's a great news" it really was, she thought. She could see it in the way he shined when he quoted his wife.

"I've brought the pictures you asked me" she took out her bag a big album. She was almost forgetting about it.

"You are a nice girl" he praised her.

"It's a pleasure" she observed him watching the pictures, his features softening, the watery eyes. He waited before looking back at her.

"He's not here, right?" she asked. She already knew the answer.

"I'm sorry" he apologized closing the album in his hands.

"I think, I have to go" she said, holding tight the grip of her bag.

That distance, Chuck was imposing her, was killing her slowly. She was embarrassed in front of that man, who had been so gentle to her. She tried not to fell the lump in her throat and to contain the tears, which concentrated in her eyes every time the reality showed her that the things were more complicated than what she'd thought.

"You're not going anywhere" he stopped her with a smirk "Someone wants to meet you".

Blair open her eyes wide. The only person she hadn't met yet, was Josephine Victoria Harvey, his wife. She was the more sought after person at the cultural gatherings, the third richest and most powerful woman in the all world, an icon of elegance and charm, loved by all the fashion designers. She was the example, anyone who wanted to rule an empire, was inspired by. Yet, nothing scared her as much as knowing that she was actually Chuck's grandmother and she wanted to see her.

"I… I don't wanna be a nuisance" she was stirring "Your wife is still in an hospital bed, she can't get tired, especially meeting strangers" she needed a way out. She felt like a coward, but she needed her time to process that kind of event. She wasn't even presentable. Who was going to be introduced to such an authority like her, wearing just humble slippers?

"A nice and lovely girl like you Blair, can only make her happy" he reassured her, sensing her distress.

"But Chuck…" The truth was, she wanted to be introduced to her by Chuck. Plus, in the moment, she didn't want to create any kind of further frictions with him.

"He's not here" he specified. She got stunned. Now she could see Daphne in his behavior: determinations and independence.

She stared back at him for a while. He was right. If Mrs. Harvey wanted to see her, she'd done it, with or without Chuck Bass. So she nodded to him, wishing that everything could go the right way. She just had to breath regularly.

When she was on the door steps her hands were sweating. She couldn't stop but thinking about the last time she had met a woman coming from Chuck's past. She had been hurt personally and she had hard regretted the way she had pushed him toward her and not protected him enough from that evilness. But on that door she knew that she was meeting the other woman of his past, the one who'd accepted him without any regrets and had been able to influence him in the best ways.

She started to check if her skirt was right, if the shoes and the bag were lined. Then she touched her hair to check if they were ok. Done that, she passed on the other step. How was Josephine? She started to remember every single cover magazines or papers in her memory where she could have seen her. She was quite aware that, like his husband, she didn't like been immortalized by the press. By the way, everyone said she was really lovely.

But What was Josephine going to think about Blair Waldorf? Was she going to like her and accept her the way her husband had done? Or she was going to consider her a wrong choice for his nephew? Too many questions all together were running in her head.

Usually she felt like she could have conquered the world, but right there she wasn't even able to greet properly..

It all happened in slow motion. When she walked the door she stopped, hypnotized by the scene in front of her eyes. Mr. Harvey was approaching a thin woman who was wearing a pink silver pajama.

She had maternal and sweet features, smiling and looking at him, with devotion while he was kissing the palm of her hand. It was such an intimate moment that Blair had to glanced down, blushing.

It was how she had always though a love story should have been, able to lighten at the dawn, even in the years of the sunset. She always felt like that with Chuck. That was the reason why she kept on coming back to him every time.

"Blair" Mr. Harvey called her "Why are you still there?"

She panicked. She had been distracted by her thoughts. Mrs. Harvey probably was thinking that she was like an ordinary Vanessa kind of person. Her legs started to tremble and her hands were tingling. She was terrified and mortified.

"You're Blair!" the sweet voice of the woman caught her attention.

She looked like the uncle with her light complexion and the gentle features. When their eyes met, Blair felt immediately ease. Josephine's gaze was calm and full of love. Blair couldn't stop but shyly smile at her.

"Mrs. Havery it's an honor for me to meet someone like you. And I'm really happy you're feeling better" Blair didn't know how, but the right words came out her mouth on their own, with a generous and natural tone. Chuck's grandmother spread tenderness. The tears reached her eyes. She was so sentimental those days.

"Don't you even try to call me that way anymore!" the woman admonished her firmly. Blair felt like she had been broken back. She turned to Mr. Harvey for Help, but he was smirking. She didn't know what to do.

"It's Josephine, for family" she specified "And now, please, get closer, because I want to take a look at those wonderful green slippers" Blair stood speechless. One of the most powerful woman of the world was right in front her wearing a pajama and was asking her to call her with her own name. She stared back again at his husband who was smirking intrigued.

They were the strangest couple she had ever met. She liked them, they were accepting her.

"Josephine" Blair smiling pronounced it. The woman smiled back at her, surprising her. That was Chuck's smile, the unexpected one, so spontaneous to mesmerize her.

Slowly she reached her bed while the grandmother was speaking to the grandfather.

"You haven't told me that Chuck was right, when he said she was beautiful, my Dear!"

Blair's ears hoisted. Did Chuck had told them about her? He had told them she was beautiful. What else?

"And Blair…" Josephine was again on her. "What aren't those shoes? They're my vice. Since when I live in Italy, I buy at least 3 pairs of shoes each week!" the woman was carefully observing them.

"Really?" Blair asked, getting aware of a new common thing between them, after the love for Chuck and the pink colour.

"I have 150 pairs of Italian shoes!" Blair confessed her proudly. "Yesterday I've brought a new together with a Puccini's dress". With self-confidence Blair sat on the chair that Mr. Harvey had showed her.

"I wore a Puccini at Kate and William's wedding ceremony. We've been friends for years"

"My mother knows him too"

"Eleanor…" it was not a question, but the tone usually used to remember someone of self-knowledge. "your mother is such a refined designer! Last year she tailored me a few clothes for some galas in Paris"

"When I was a baby I was her first critic"

"She told me you have an impeccable taste" she corroborated it.

"Have My mother talked about me?" Blair seemed surprised.

"She's really proud of you! By the way, when I finally get out of here, we need to go shopping together! I'd like to introduce you Rodolfo! Even if he's not working anymore at the atelier, I'm sure he would find you delicious" she proposed Blair.

"Rodolfo Valentino?" Blair specified.

"Do you know someone else with the same name and the same talent?" Josephine replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Of course not, Josephine!" Blair was picturing a radiant smile on her face. She could already play the scene: Josephine, Rodolfo and her watching together the autumn-fall fashion shows in Paris.

"I'm pretty sure he'll love those dark curls on your complexion. I bet that red is your color"

"I wear it divinely!" Blair agreed, pushing her chair closer.

"But now, tell me more about you. Are you still studying?" Josephine was curious to know everything.

Mr Harvey observed them from the window. He had no doubts: his wife was falling for Blair Waldorf.

_**The Blair I had known about, many years before, through Chuck's stories and emotions was the person he cared about the most. She was the one he could tell everything, the one who could read through him. Now, letting her back in, was difficult for him. He had felt like her second chance, she had accused him of too many serious things to let it go. He could have bared them from anyone else, but not from her. He loved her and hated her at the same time. He wanted her but he also wanted to destroy her.**_

When he entered the room he felt the emptiness under his feet. What he had prevented for days, was right in front of his eyes. Blair was sitting with his grandmother and they were talking as if they've known each other since a lifetime, looking at a family picture album.

He stood motionless. The natural way Blair crossed her legs showing them to his eyes, the spontaneous smile addressed to his grandmother, the real admiration which lied into their way of relating to each other commenting the pictures of their diplomas, paralyzed him.

He hated himself for even try to enjoy that feeling of peace and family he could catch between the women of his life. He clouded. He couldn't allow Blair to take the luxury of destroying him again. He wouldn't push her into the arms of the most important thing of his life anymore, not after the lack of trust she had showed him due to Humphrey's bullshits. Not when she had taken his side against him.

He hated her. He hated himself for needing her just a few days ago. He hated feeling a miserable because of her.

"Blair?" he made himself clear to advise Blair of his presence, pretending to be surprised. Then he gave her the onceover. He wanted to let her feel out of the water. He wanted to feel her out the water, even pretending it.

Both of them, turned towards him. His grandmother smiled at him while Blair stared at him before glancing down.

Chuck's eyes gave her no doubts. He didn't want her there. Her legs felt weak under his cold and detached gaze, so she turned to Josephine to hold on to her presence.

"Charles, my dear. Blair has been so generous to keep me company this morning".

"It's been a pleasure Josephine" Blair explained, never looking at Chuck.

Chuck's jaw tightened. She was calling her by her name. He could already imagine Blair's happiness. She had conquered one of her childhood icons. She was on top.

"I'm sure Blair has been adorable, but I'm afraid she must leave"

"Oh it's a shame! She was telling me about your childhood! She has even brought your family pictures" Chuck turned to her with a questioning gaze. What the hell she was doing? It had been clear. He had closed her out forever.

"I'd never said you loved the zoo and getting your baby sitters crazy when you were a baby!" Josephine was amused.

"Blair has always loved telling stories" he was embarrassed, so he looked at her with disappointment.

Was she there to humiliate him in front of his grandmother's eyes?

Blair stared back at him, knowing exactly what he was thinking about her.

"Chuck, on his side, has always been someone to talk about" she said bringing her purse and standing up to leave.

"Blair, sweetheart, promise me I'll see you soon" Josephine got closer to greet her properly. Blair was unsure about what to do, while Chuck was following all her moves like a radar. She didn't cared and hugged his grandmother in front of him.

"Be ok, Josephine" she wished, showing her real interest.

"Chuck, don't mistreat Blair! She is delicious!" Josephine ordered him, making Blair's cheeks blush and making him feel uncomfortable. She had got her.

* * *

They didn't speak till they reached the ward exit.

"What were you doing here? "he attacked her when no one was in sight.

"I was just meeting your grandmother"

"I asked you, what are you doing here Blair?" he needed to know it.

"I came to know if you needed something" she said it sincerely.

"I don't need your help" he sounded clear.

"Chuck"

"What happened last week meant nothing" he specified. Blair seemed hurt.

".. The fact that I had let my guard down, doesn't mean we're having a civil kind of relationship" he finished.

Blair lowered her gaze. He was keeping her out. After years spent learning how to trust each other, he was closing the door on her face.

"I'm sorry for.." she tried to apologize.

"Daphne?" he anticipated her.

"I…" she felt like the most stupid person in the world.

"You didn't know she's my sister?" he ended her sentence.

"Yes" she nodded. He didn't reply.

"Why haven't you told me you had found your family?" she turned her gaze on his. It was the question that had killed her till the moment the truth had come out.

For a moment she thought she had seen some kind of emotions in his eyes. The wall was opening. It was like if he was understanding what to do and if doing it.

"I came to tell you" on that exit his face turned into a mask of indifference.

Blair shut up. She knew what he was talking about.

"I just hope that your royal appointments had at least the same importance" royal appointment was pronounced with disdain.

In his word she could read the anger he had felt when she had rejected for the umpteenth time.

"If only I'd known…" she started..

"Don't! spare me Blair! You've seen me, I'm fine, I don't need you anymore. You can go now" He said those words without fallen.

He wanted her to feel what he had felt a few weeks before. Like he had felt in both Paris and London when she had closed him outside of her world again and again. He needed her to feel it.

"I thought that you've matured, but as I can see you're just the same old conceited, selfish immature asshole" she accused him. He was pushing her away and hating her for something he didn't know about. She couldn't bare it.

She turned her heels and ran away where she could cry without feeling ashamed.

* * *

"What are you doing in my house?" Daphne was in the her living room because the butler had advised her about the presence of a guest who didn't wanted to say his name. She knew who he was.

He was looking at the fireplace, charming as always in his jeans and his stripped cotton shirt. Casual and sexy.

He turned toward her, his gaze travelled satisfied all her body, from her feet till her hair. Taken by surprise by his appearance she had forgot that her night gown little covered her new La Perla's underwear, so she crossed her arms on her chest to deny any further access to his eyes.

"What a wonderful day" he said with emphasis enjoying her awkward tentative to recompose herself.

She felt uncomfortable with him. Just a wrong move would have been sufficient to let everything

happen. They both knew it.

"I thought I was clear. I don't want you around" she wanted to sound imperative.

"You thought it was wrong, but that doesn't mean it really is" he provoked her, quite aware of the little advantage he had in that moment.

"If you don't leave the room now, I'd be forced to call the security" she admonished him. She want him gone as soon as possible.

"You won't do it" he challenged her, sure that she'd fold up as always. He just needed a few more jokes and her wall would have fallen down.

When he saw her moving toward the phone in the center of the room his certainty swayed instead. There was something different in her gaze. She was more secure of herself. Stronger. But he didn't want to leave, it'd been too much since the last time they had talked to each other.

"I'm here to give you that" he pointed to an envelope on the coffee table. That excuse would have given him a little more time.

"What is this?" she wasn't so much interested in his excuses, but she didn't pick up the phone. She stared at him trying to understand what he was hiding.

"It's the prove you've been looking for all week. The one you need to help your friend" he seemed embarrassed. He had done it for her.

"What?" she sulked. It was clear that he was using it to get clean with her, as well as that he was still shadowing her.

"I had almost forgotten how much you like spying people" she commented with bitterness. It hurt her. He had never trusted her. He had always made her followed. He had always known everything about her, but never asking her.

"Not everyone" he replied with a smirk on his face, stepping closer to her on the other side of the coffee table. He hadn't realized yet that he was bothering her. "..Only who's wearing sexy lingerie at 11 o clock in the morning" he continued unabashed.

She breathed deeply because, even if she felt cheated, the closeness of his body reminded her how much she physically needed him, how much he could still make her weak.

"What do you know?" She could do it.

She took the envelop and broke away from him making him understand that he was choosing the wrong ways with her. He needed to take it slow so he sat on the sofa in front of her, putting his arms behind his head.

"Did you know that Mrs. Bright is my uncle's cousin?" that information caught immediately Daphne's attention. He'd been left out the family inheritance by Nicholas' father.

"It seems like my father is in the mood for reconciliations…" Nicholas commented acidly. "He had proposed my uncle a position at the administration board if he defeat your grandfather next week at the board meeting".

Daphne shock her head, it was a never-ending story.

"What about Blair?"

"Chuck" he answered.

"They have been not together for almost a year now. It doesn't make sense" she exposed her doubts.

"It does, if you think that last year, when he found out she had rejected a job position in NY, destroying any other chances, he had procured her the W position at the London's office" Daphne didn't know anything about it. "Plus, when my father had known that Josephine had disappeared, he had set his dogs on her, only to became acquainted that Chuck is Elisabeth's son. To my father, Chuck is another Harvey to Christianize".

"You're telling me that your uncle made them use Blair against us? That she was the most secure way to have the real story?".

"The last time my father hired him on something, he gave him fake information, and my stupid relative had published them without checking if they were true. I think he's still on trial for slander. So, Using Blair had been a terrible move, but at least the most efficient one".

"Are you sure about all of these?" she wanted a confirmation.

"My father wants to buy me" he didn't like it, "Let me say that, after everything he had done in the past I'm going to take a revenge on him" he was serious and determined.

A moment of deep sorrow hit her. She wasn't ready yet to open that argument. At least not with him.

"You must go" she invited out.

He stared at her intensely. Mentioning the past had created a drop between them. He didn't have to be told twice. He stood up and walked to the door. If she needed time, he would have given her.

"Another thing: four weeks ago Chuck asked for Blair's firing. Now you understand why my family is using her!".

Daphne turned to watch him. She didn't expect that.

* * *

Dan entered The Waldorf penthouse. It was clean and tidy as always. Dorota, as usual, approached him in the hall.

"Miss Blair not home" she stared at him perplex.

"Will she be home soon?"

"I don't know, but when you want to come, better if you call first" she didn't like him at all.

"Have you told her, I came yesterday?"

"I tell Miss Blair everything" she was hurt. Was he implying that she wasn't capable to do her work?

"She didn't me back" he justified.

"Miss Blair really busy. Work, Mr. Chuck.." and Dorota realized she had said too much.

"C-chuck? Blair is hanging with Chuck?" he didn't miss the news.

"Did I say Mr. Chuck?" Dorota tried to tergiversate.

"So, they're back together?" he was like someone had punch him.

" I know nothing Mr Daniel, better ask Miss Blair" she cut the argument.

"I'll wait here, sooner or later she'll be back home" he pointed at the sofas in the living room.

"I must clean, but you can wait downstairs by elevator" the less she had seen him, the less she had talk about Blair.

He stood without words. She was casting him out.

* * *

"Miss Waldorf?"

"That's me!"

"Miss Harvey wants you to get in the car".

Blair opened her eyes wide. After her first meeting with Josephine Harvey, the argument with Chuck, Daphne in her limo waiting for her, was the cherry on top of her day.

The driver opened the car door to make her street.

She stood for a second, looking doubtful. She had to apologize, but in that very moment she wasn't in the mood to meet anyone.

"I don't bite" Daphne assured her from the car. One thing was sure, that girl was absurd.

So, Blair accepted the lift showing her that she could face her.

Daphne was sitting on the same place Chuck did, reading carefully some papers. On the seat in front of her there was a laptop opened to a building project and 4 phones. Blair decided to take the lateral seat.

"Give me just a second please" Daphne didn't stop reading the paper. It passed a long moment of silence and Blair felt out of her elements.

Was it the right time to say she was sorry for her behavior?

"I know you weren't expecting to see me, but we need to discuss something very important". It was Daphne who started first, closing the file she was holding and handing it to Blair.

"I'm aware about the fact that you don't like me Blair, but I truly believe that the last few weeks could change everything in the way we should relate to each other" she finished what she had to say.

"What's this?" Blair took the document and leafed through it.

"The last time we talked, you prevented me from saying the most important thing. I'm really sorry for your job. I've spent all week attending business meetings and trying to find a connection between you, my family and who wants to blackmail us".

"If you fear that I'll tell them something about Chuck and your Grandmother, you're wrong. I didn't know what they had in mind, and when I found out the truth about Josephine I've decided not to tell anyone. She's a lovely person, plus I would never do something like this to.."

"Chuck?" Daphne was looking at her with curiosity.

"Why am I here?" Blair changed the subject. She had just finished crying for him, she didn't wanted to start again in front of his sister.

"You're handing the proof to win against your boss. Unfortunately for you, they're connected to some of my family's lifetime enemies. You were their pawn".

"So, I've lost my job?" Blair sighted. Another lost certainty.

"They wouldn't ever hired you back. They were just using you against us and against Chuck" Daphne hated to admit it out loud.

"Blair Waldorf used by someone. There was a time when I didn't care about anything and I didn't let anyone push me around." Blair commented with a compliance tone. Maybe everything about her had really changed.

"Waldorf, I've been told that you don't give up. I can't believe they were wrong" Daphne provoked her.

"You think that I won't?" Blair felt underrated.

"I believe that they need to pay for what they've done to you" Daphne was sure about that.

"I agree" Blair nodded while Daphne was picturing a malicious smile on her face.

"Good to Know, as I have an idea Waldorf" Blair couldn't stop but sense power and security in her words, something that galvanized her.

"Daphne Ginevra Harvey you got my attention" Blair conceded Daphne with a glowing smile.

Who could define herself a Queen without the right alley?

* * *

"Humphrey, you're doing a sit in my hall?" Blair asked him, watching him sitting in her hallway, reading a huge book.

"You're home late" he stated, standing up.

"The curfew is on again?" she poked fun on him. "If you have something to tell me, do it now, because I've business to attend to"

"I was asking myself… as at the theatre on the 24th there's Philadelphia story, do you wanna watch it?"

"Old times memories!" she smiled. "It's nice of you to ask me, but I can't, I'm quite busy" she dismissed him quickly heading to the elevator. She had to prepare herself for a fake dinner out with Daphne.

"With Chuck?" he asked behind her back. Blair stopped and turned to him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Dorota told me you had been busy with Chuck lately. I thought you two were on bad terms. You haven't tell me anything"

"There are tons of things I don't tell you" she pointed.

"Hanging out with Chuck again is important".

"Yes, it is. But for me. By the way, as much I appreciate your concern, go to movie theatre. I have a few things to do, as I said".

When the elevators doors opened she entered and pressed the bottom with decision.

_**Blair hadn't understood that Dan wasn't her friend. At least, she look at him as a friend, but he wasn't on the same page. He hanged up on her so much to believe that she was how he thought. Blair hasn't realized it yet. She kept on talking, joking and spending her time with him without sensing that it was going even worse. **__**Chuck, for example, wasn't pleased about that.**_

* * *

I want to thank who is still reading this fic. I'm doing my best to translate it fast and in an accettable english, with the amazing support of my beta Cry!

I hope you're liking the story so far. Get ready for the new chapter which will contain a new major revelation!

Thank you very much!


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Father's mistakes**

_**The house in NY City was our flagship. My grandmother transformed it into an art gallery, every room had a different artistic taste, with contaminations form different countries. I remembered every single trip, far away from the press, where my grandmother and I spent time abroad in humanitarian missions. One of them was still vivid in my head. We had a great time in Ghana, working in an orphanage where we started a few important initiatives to help the children to find a new family. A woman of the village gave us a wood mask to thank us for our work. My grandmother was so happy about her gratitude, that she changed her Paris agenda, full of galas to attend to, to come back to Ny and place that precious gift in her office on the 5th avenue.**_

"Miss Harvey, Miss Waldorf's here"

"Send her up" Daphne was looking for her new Balenciaga in her closet. It was perfect for the day but she was in the air about another one.

The housekeeper left the room to reach Blair who was waiting in the hall.

It was the most refined house she had ever visited. Italian design and things coming from every place in the world. It was a luxury apartment but with the aspect of something lived, due to its colors and its warmness. She got stunned by the Matisse painting on the wall in the hall. It was original and rare. She wondered how many painting of that kind of level they had in the house. She got closer, enchanted by how the colors contrasted with the white wall.

"Arthur, prepare the car, I'm heading downstairs" Chuck Bass' voice came as a surprise. He shouldn't have been there, it was what Daphne told her.

Blair stood motionless pretending to watch the painting and taking a deep breath.

He stopped too, surprised to find her there. She could sense his gaze travelling up and down her body from behind.

"Waldorf… what a crazy reason leads the lamb into the wolf's house?" he asked, unable to keep a detached tone in front of the way her skirt covered her back. It was stronger than him.

Blair turned to see him and she glanced him maliciously. His smirk reminded her about the cat and mouse game they were used to play.

"Don't bother, I'm not here for you" she replied parading indifference for him.

It hurt him. Knowing that she wasn't there for him irritated him and made him jealous.

"What a pity, Waldorf. This morning I was in a good mood" he kept on talking while staring at her leg.

"Of course you are" she replied, well aware of his eyes on her as well as the fact that he wasn't creating walls between them.

"Miss Waldorf, Miss Harvey is waiting for you" the housekeeper walked the door behind Chuck.

"I'm on my way, Thank you" Blair announced, putting her bag on her shoulder.

"Don't tell me you want to continue this fake friendship with my sister?" he asked anticipating the argument.

He didn't know what of the three things hurt him the most. Knowing that Blair was getting close to his sister after all she had done to her; the fact that Blair wasn't there for him, or that he wasn't the one she was scheming with him.

"You know Bass…" She got close, managing the situation with experience, moving slowly toward him to get his total attention. "There's something extremely familiar in her.." she stopped in front of him, leaning to fix his collar, while his gaze was on her face. "Who knows… maybe it's the memory of the past, or me being nostalgic" she turned up her gaze to meet his eyes.

They were so close that she could feel the electricity everywhere their skin touched. They both stood motionless, studying each other. Who was going to lose control first and make the wrong move?

She felt his hands resting on her waist, something usual when they were together. For a brief moment she had no air, under his touch. By the way he was responding her, she thought that she had him. So, she leaned closer to kiss his cheek, lingering there to play him along.

They both closed their eyes at the contact.

Then with naturalness she wiggled out of his arms and stepped back .

"Have a nice day Bass" she smiled at him from behind, leaving him standing still in the hall.

He couldn't stop but stare at her hips with dark eyes. He hadn't realize he was smiling too.

* * *

"Blair, come on in. I'm in my closet" Daphne called after her, after hearing Blair's heels on the floor.

What Blair saw, walking the door, stunned her.

On the right wall there was a gigantic canopy bed with tons of pillows and blue silken covers. A big terrace window was on the right of the bed , while on every walls of the room, there were family pictures, souvenirs, and relics from different trips. She could see a big desk in another room, far from where she was, full of books and papers.

Daphne's voice had come instead from a room on Blair's left. Next to the huge bathroom Blair could notice the biggest wardrobe closet she had ever seen in her entire life.

It was as big as the whole bedroom, divided in two different high levels and organized according to the kind of clothes. The full dresses were located in front of a big perfumery and jewels desk. On the upper side Blair could see the coats together with the jackets and all the accessories. On the opposite side there were the shoes and the bags. In an another side of the wardrobe there were pants, skirts, shirts, suits, all divided by the colors and the possible matches. Finally, she could see a daily casual part, with tons of t-shirts and sweaters, together with all the kind of daily shoes, all ordered by the alphabet of the fashion stylists. Right behind them there were the underwear and the night gowns area.

"There you are" Daphne popped up from the daily clothes area, holding two dresses to ask Blair an advise. Blair observed them carefully: Moschino against Balenciaga. She had no doubts.

"The black one" She chose the Balenciaga's one. "Together with those shoes and that bag" she pointed at some things behind Daphne's back, then she smiled triumphantly, well aware that she could have lived in that closet forever.

"Excellent choice" Daphne commented while heading to the dressing room.

"I hope you're wearing something comfortable Blair, because we'll have a very busy day at the Foundation".

"I love the revenge days. They deserves to be honored with proper clothes! I'm wearing a Dior skirt and Della Renta shirt" she simply adored them, they made her feel invincible.

"I believe they're suitable for our mission" Daphne reappeared, walking to the bathroom.

"Do you want to review our plan?" Bair asked looking around.

"You'll call Mrs Bright, confirming her that you had found what she wanted and you'll tell her everything. In the meantime we'll spend the day together with my family and we'll give you all the information you need for a cover story, that we'll publish on a famous magazine, that we'll keep secret, till the day of its publication".

"How they won't know anything about it?" Blair asked, even if she already knew the answer.

"The grandfather has many loyal friends in the publishing field" with that, Daphne came out of the bathroom with her make up done, noticing that Blair was enchanted by a new Valentino's bag of the new limited collection. She was used to receive his bags and clothes in advanced because he was a close friend with her grandmother.

"You can have it, if you want" she proposed Blair, who turned toward her astonished.

"Have you lost your mind? There's a year of reservation to have it and you, who are one of the few person all over the word who own it, are willing to give it away".

"One of the only 5?" Daphne winked at her. She knew that Blair desired it, she could read it in her eyes.

"I can't" she tried to reject the offer, even if she desperately wanted to be one of the 5.

"It's perfect with your shoes and personally, even if I love Rodolfo, I don't like it that much" she was in her shoes area "So, it's yours" she ended the conversation.

When Daphne couldn't see her, Blair pictured a huge shining smile of happiness, touching the bag with victory. It was hers, everyone would have envied and watched her!

"Are you ready?" Daphne was in front of her with a beige trench in her hand.

"Absolutely" Blair shacked her new bag with enthusiasm.

* * *

"Daphne and Blair will be here in the afternoon" Mr. Havery advised the woman, giving her some water.

"It is the right thing to do" she nodded.

"I… don't know!" He shocked his head, sitting by her side. "You're still fragile… we'll be surrounded by the press. You need serenity" he explained her, but his wife took his hand in hers and tightened it firmly.

"We have waited too long for this, Andrew" she was convinced about her choice. Mr. Harvey looked down. They had pushed away that moment for years, hoping that it'd never come.

"I'm thinking at Chuck… It'll be terrible for him to open again the worst chapter of his life" it seemed like he could feel that pain.

"Chuck overcame it with success" she corrected him "We are the ones who need to face it with high head" she met his gaze.

The shadows of the years spent hiding behind excuses and explanations, were spinning around them.

"Sometimes I wonder where we did go wrong… Vic.. Why paying us back with so much sufferance?" he asked her, staring into her eyes. His face was tormented, twisted by the many nights spent looking for those answers, trying to stay strong.

"Maybe we gave her too much" she replied showing her self-confidence.

She had been thinking about it for years and so many years had passed, that she couldn't cry anymore for her daughter. She had learned how to shut herself in. The pain of her husband, of her son in law, her own son had obliged her to be strong, to support all of them. It was, as by the time, she had detached herself from her, as if she had become unable to suffer. She didn't speak about her and when it happened, by her words, her daughter seemed like stranger who had casually stayed in her belly for nine months.

"I think that we've never spoken enough about this" Mr. Havery said, knowing her better than anyone else. He caressed her cheek with finesse.

"I know how much you've suffered Vic… You've always taken the blame for everything…"

"Because it's true" she gave him a sharp reply, in her extreme tentative to prevent him from destroying the wall that she had built to protect herself and be strong.

She had never talk about it because, most of all, it was her problem. No one could have understood the sorrow of a mother who had seen her daughter destroying every tie, every principles she had taught her. She was the one who had raised her. She had given her love and attentions since the day she was born. She had nursed her and taken in her arms when she was crying. And then, despite everything she hadn't understood her distress. She had always envisioned her as her sweet angel only to realize that she had conceived the worst living creature. It was the truth. She hated her for what she had done, and in spite of all, she felt ashamed of herself for keeping on thinking about her as her own daughter. She deeply felt ashamed about it.

"Vic.." Mr. Harvey took her face in his hands and forced her to look into his eyes.

"When Daphne was 3 years old.. " he started with sadness. "she kept on asking me when her mother would have come back. I prayed every single night for Elisabeth to walk that gate"

Josephine's lips were trembling, she was looking at him on the verge of a cry.

"After she came back and left for the second time, she's dead to me" he finally admitted out loud.

"How could she have hidden Charles from us?" he closed his eyes.

Thinking back at the past, killed him. For his father being, Elisabeth was just his little porcelain doll with the caramel eyes and the brown rolls, the one who asked him to push her higher on the seesaw and loved visiting the park on the carriage. As a grandfather, Elisabeth was the biggest disappointment of his life.

Andrew Harvey, the most acclaimed business man, the man of the human and professional depth, defeated in his own house, pierced at his heart by his own blood.

"There are times when I feel like a fail" he kept on talking, washing the tears from his face, "And Sometimes I believe that Daphne and Charles are our second chance" Josephine nodded at his word. She knew what he was talking about.

"So I don't care If I have to carry this burden on my shoulders. A part of me will always love my princess and the other won't ever forgive her, but not for what she had done to us. I won't forgive her for what she had done to her kids"

"They're so wonderful" Josephine smiled, mentioning them.

"Yes, they are" a shy smile came on the face of her husband too, together with a strong mission "and till I'll live, I'll do everything in my power for them not to suffer anymore, Vic. Everything"

The woman agreed.

They weren't two perfect parents. They had taken difficult decisions they were not proud of, but they had done it to protect the most important people of their lives. They had done it together, in the good and the bad fate. They had done it for love.

They stayed in silence for a while.

"I want to tell Blair the truth" Josephine spoke "It's the right thing".

Andrew Harvey nodded, he had never been able to tell her no.

_**There's a high tree in our house in Portofino. It hides in the green and breezy wood where we were used to relax during the hottest moments of the summer. My grandparents loved it, they had promised love to each other and got married in the shadow of that ancient tree.**_

_**Great aunt Erin, who died from heart attack when I was 18, once told me that when they fell in love, they used to meet under that tree every evening. I've always thought it was a romantic story. **_

_**They carved their names on that tree, and with the years, they added all our names too. It was their way to remember that from their roots, a new tree was growing, strong and solid. **_

_**When Chuck became part of the family, the grandfather took the first plane to go there and carved his name next to mine. He seemed like a father of a newborn, running to the civil registry to give his successor his own name. I Can't help but remember the way he caressed Chuck's new name, carved on the symbol he had always loved so much. **_

_**My mother's name had been cancelled with strength, instead. A single line, firm, determined, agonizing, in some kind of ways.**__**Not all the branches live through the storm.**_

"This way" Daphne indicated Blair her office in the Foundation palace.

Blair had never been there but she knew it was one of the most refined palaces of the city. Everyone wanted to work for the Harveys because it meant becoming someone, get in touch with the people who really mattered and conquer the world.

She stopped on the door to contemplate the big room with the leather chairs and the fireplace, that lied next to another big room with a gigantic desk and a window on the internal yard.

"I seriously need a coffee, don't you?" Daphne appeared from the desk room direct to the table next to the sofas to prepare a coffee with her Bialetti coffee maker.

"Dorota told me that you were in charge of the Foundation before I asked you…" Blair admitted shyly. Daphne didn't have a reaction.

"How's little Anna?" she simply asked, bringing her the coffee and sitting on the sofa.

"You know Anna?" Blair was quite surprised. Daphne didn't any problems with her bullshits, and, she had started talking about personal things instead. She stared at her while she was putting the sugar into the coffee.

"Vanya"

"Right" Blair nodded. Vanya adored Chuck, he owed him. Plus Chuck adored Ania, Dorota always said it.

"So, what do you think about the first part of the day?" Daphne asked her, knowing that Blair expressions showed admiration and enchantment for what she had seen. It was her world, it fitted her like a glove.

"I've never had a private meeting with a Puerto Rican ambassador" Blair replied smiling.

"Me? Several times" Daphne seemed bored.

"I don't understand you!" Blair blurted out "You have everything you want, you know all the people you need and you are the one who decides. Someone else would do anything to be you"

Daphne fixed her with an amused expression.

"Like Blair Waldorf?" Daphne asked her without malicious tones, just for the fun of enjoying the feeling of confidence growing between them.

"Probably" she answered playing with her.

Daphne was a living surprise. She was having a great time with her. She had good tastes and a big culture on her shoulder despite her young age. She had visited the Louvre at least 50 times and every single time she had refused to see L'ultima Cena by Leonardo because that wasn't the original. The original one was in Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. She was divided by the love for Humphrey Bogart and Cary Grant, she listened to Chopin and preferred the Othello to Romeo & Juliet. She adored Wuthering highs and Dickens. She loved Sean Penn and was used to buy tons of Manolos. Every week she read all the fashions magazines and she had never lost an episode of The good wife. Even if she would have never say it out loud, she liked Daphne Harvey.

"I want to take a degree in Law, Blair. If I could I'd close myself in one room to study like an hermit. Who knows? Maybe I choose that faculty to have a long and permanent way out from this world"

"The oddest thing is that people say you're even more determined than your grandfather!" Blair sat comfortable on the sofa.

"I can't even remember the first time I entered this office" Daphne looked around the room to find some kind of memories "Maybe it's because when you born this way, you can't decide what to do, you just do what you have to" she gazed into space "or maybe, I own too many offices that I can't distinguish them!" she smiled.

"Your grandfather seems to be a wonderful person" Blair was honest.

"He is!" Daphne nodded, putting her coffee cup on the table and leaning back on the sofa.

"He's a rock. Even if I have to admit that sometimes he's more fragile than the grandma… when I was a baby I hated playing the piano because I had to study the famous composers. My grandmother valued it. The discipline. Hate. So when the grandfather came back from work he sat next to me and he taught me all the silly songs. I still can remember when we played the Robin Hoods play list" Daphne smiled dispassionately. She took a moment before starting again.

"They say he is firm and rational person. Someone is even scared about his presence because you can't shape him at your willing. I can say that he steals the strawberry candies, that the housekeeper hide for him in the upper drawer of the kitchen, because he shouldn't eat them due to the diabetes. He hate waking up early on Sunday mornings. Whoever tries to wake him up, end up in the pool from the balcony. He'd died if you'd stop him from drinking his favorite scotch at 11 in the morning. It's his ritual, it's the good start of his days"

"So it's a dna matter?" Blair asked pretty amused by the family affinities.

"If you're referring to Chuck, I think so too" Daphne laughed with Blair. She had discovered too that Chuck and Mr. Harvey had many things in common. "But luckily for him, he doesn't have the diabetes".

"You know, It's been strange to meet the grandparents" Blair spoke first "Your grandmother. She was so lovely that I've also forgiven to take a bow in front of her" she admitted quite embarrassed. How could she have even forgiven it?

"She won't talk to you anymore" Daphne replied categorical. Blair stood dumbfounded but Daphne cracked up in front of her panic expression.

"My grandmother hates all the pranks of the etiquette. When people start to list all the family titles my grandfather and her have, if she's watching tv she changes the channel, if she have them in front of her she lose her patience and punctually ask where the toilet is?"

Blair opened her eyes wide. That was craziness.

"How can it even be possible?" Daphne anticipated her. "Come on Blair, you know very well what dutiful fulfill the etiquette means. It's like living in jail. For the people mentioning that, my grandmother is a princess, daughter of the survived daughter of Franz Joseph from Austria, seem the only thing that matters about us, when my grandmother hate remembering it, instead".

"So, you're a princess" Blair certified.

"Yes" she smiled. "Chuck's too, when he'll be out as an official member of the family, he'll inherit our family titles. The grandfather comes from a powerful family too, one of the most ancient royal titles of England and has been honored with many praises. They had locked everything in a room of our London estate, a place we escape like the plague. I even think that he ordered not to clean that room anymore" Blair was shocked.

"And your father?"

"I think you already know that I've been raised by my grandparents" Daphne's joyful expression had left room for a sad mood. "My father died when I was 14. He was an businessperson whose origins were poor, someone who had learned the ropes on his own. It's because of him that I think at myself as a normal person!"

"And Elisabeth?"

"Elisabeth left a few months after I was born. I saw her at 9 years old, then she disappeared again till my father's death, when I banished her for anger and she didn't thought about it twice… We were the ones who won at that point"

"She came back to you too?" Blair grumpy asked. Daphne rolled her eyes sighing. "How can you talk so calmly about it?"

"Chuck and I had different misfortunes: talking about me, I regretted my mother till the day that she broke my heart, But I had a family that gave me so much more love then what she can know about. Chuck on the other hand…"

"He had grown up wishing for a family and had realized that he had a despicable mother and a rude father" Blair ended Daphne's sentence, unable to contain her anger toward Elisabeth. Daphne felt it but she knew that it was too early to talk about that, with her.

"When two years ago my grandma got sick, I started managing more things at the Foundation, which she defined the diamond point of the family" after a long talking Daphne was finally answering Blair's first question.

"Why keep it as a secret?"

"Don't you think that is up to us how to live at least the sufferance? When my father died I was mobbed by the press who followed all our moves, everywhere we went. I felt like a circus animal… It was terrible for a 14 years old, going around with the security when all my school friends were at the park by themselves. People don't respect your needs, they love to step on It only to find out something to use for their own benefits. My grandma is a strong woman. She supported all of us during the worst moments, but her heart is fragile and discovering that she had an hidden nephew had been painful. She opted for the silence, she wanted to embrace Chuck without anyone who could steal them the time she was left. I think is a licit choice and we supported her"

"Don't you think she's still too weak to face all the consequences of this article?" Blair sounded worried.

"She thinks it's the right way"

"There's a thing That I don't understand… Why your grandfather could be threatened using your grandmother's illness? It would be just an exclusive news, I don't understand.."

"Do you know the count Alexandrevsky?" Daphne interrupted Blair.

"Nicholas's father?" she asked her back. The curiosity was too much to be bared inside.

"Nicholas's father" Daphne repeated, letting the answer fall. Blair waited for something more.

"The car is waiting, we should go, the next appointment is in half an hour" Daphne stood up. Blair was still on the sofa.

One thing was clear to her: one step at the time.

* * *

"Charles I hope you don't mind If I asked Nathaniel to leave us alone" The grandfather greeted him walking out of the elevator at the Charles Place. Chuck was waiting for him, observing the planimetry of a new project. It was a great deal and the grandfather was proud of him.

"Grandfather" Chuck welcomed him shyly. He wasn't familiar to his new family members yet. He still needed time. "Of course not…" he replied.

How could he'd be pissed? He lowered the gaze embarrassed, putting his hands in his pockets. He felt like an happy and wanted baby.

"Fine" the grandfather smiled to him and glanced down putting the hands in his pockets too.

"How about having lunch here?" Chuck proposed.

"That would be perfect, but there's a thing we need to discuss first" the serious tone of his grandfather worried Chuck.

"Is Josephine fine?" he asked back immediately.

"Everything is fine" he reassured him. "Come on, let's sit" he pointed at the leather chairs in front of the window.

It was clear to Chuck that anything they had to discuss was very important.

"A Josephine and Daphne's interview will be published on Monday"

"An interview?" Chuck was puzzled. His grandfather nodded.

"We've been informed that Alexandrevsky was using you and your friends to get at me and your grandmother"

"And you want defeat him with an interview?" Chuck didn't understand. He knew that man very well, so he didn't see how an article could hurt him.

The grandfather stood up and walked to the window. He took a few minutes before speaking again.

"You're the spitting image of your mother Charles…" at that exit Chuck stiffened his jaw. It was the first time they talked about her, they had never wanted to ruin their time together, remembering anything but a rosy past.

"When she was a baby she looked at me with those caramel eyes and I couldn't say her no…. she was so beautiful" the grandfather smiled, carried by his memories. "The time to praise me because I had her, was never enough during my business trips… she was adorable, running in my arms on the door every time I came back home. We chased each other in the park and visited together palaces and museums… I've always thought about her as my precious crystal. Shining and fragile in my hands…" a note of sufferance centralized in his last words. He turned his gaze from the view to his nephew.

He seemed tormented. It was the first time Chuck saw him so desperate.

"At 15 she started to hang out alone. My wife and I, knew that we couldn't control her forever." There was bitterness in his voice. He shocked his head. "I've always known she was a free and rebel spirit, since when she was 3 years old and refused to dress the way she should have or to obey to our rules" he paused. " I knew she hanged out with people not to be trusted". He glanced down the floor, his jugular was throbbing.

"You weren't there, right?" Chuck asked him, thinking back at his own past.

Bart wasn't there for him. He didn't order him, but when he came back, he always scolded him about everything.

"I've never been a good father Charles. I usually exaggerated with her: I protected her or I reprimanded her without listening her reasons. I spoiled her or I locked her in her room. Being a father is not that easy…"

"What connection has Nicholas's father with my mother?" Chuck came back to the point at issue.

"There was a time when I bought the press to prevent that all your mother bravados could come out and ruin our family's reputation. I wasn't doing it for Elisabeth but to protect Josephine who didn't know about some kind of things…" he took a deep breath and continued the story. "They had a story. He was an disinhibited and dangerous guy. He hanged out in brothels and took drugs. I couldn't bare it. The influence he had on her was frightful. I tried to talk to her but she didn't listen to me. I've even tried to trust her.. and I found her in her bathroom snorting co…" he wasn't able to finish. He covered his eyes with his hand, breathing in and out.

Chuck's heart ached. He wasn't different from her mother. He had spent years drowned in the alchol, always high, surrounded by bad companies and different woman with no names and no faces. He had been proud of himself many times. And Bart reacted, it was the only reason he cared about him. But right there in some kind of ways his grandfather's sorrow made him feel guilty. That was exactly what he expected from Bart, what a father who loves his son should have felt. He understood that he had difficulties to continue.

"Did you try to stop her?" Chuck asked him, to help him.

"I had her put away. I couldn't allow her to ruin her life. She could have died. I threatened his family, telling them that I would have done anything to keep him far away from my daughter. I looked after him. I knew who he talked to, who he met, what he did, and I locked up my daughter".

"And she escaped" Chuck said, already known it.

"I lost her forever… He organized her getaway and hid her, arousing her against us. She did everything in her power to embarrass us. I hid everything to the press. You don't know what it meant for us. Vic got sick, she didn't eat or talk to anyone. I cursed Elisabeth for that, so I let her go" he sat in front of Chuck, looking into his eyes. Confessing his mistakes was the hardest thing to do.

"A year later, she came back with Daphne's father. She told us that she had left Alexadrevsky and had travelled around the world. She came back as our beloved little princess and the fact that she was expecting, gave us a new hope. Vic got better and Daphne's birth was full of happiness. It was all too good to be true" he smiled sadly. "Two month after the birth she stole some projects from the office's safe, gave them to that man and disappeared.

"Is that the reason why your business risked the collapse in the 80s?" the grandfather nodded.

"She wanted to take a revenge on us for what we had done to her in the past. I looked for her but I couldn't find her. She had changed her identity. She pretended to be Evelyn, a prostitute who stole your father's heart and after you birth, she abandoned you too" he lowered his gaze ashamed.

"And I've always thought that Bart was the asshole!" Chuck commented acidly.

"There are moments I can't forgive myself for what she had done to the both of you. When she came back and Daphne was just a baby I didn't want her near her, but she conquered her with a gaze, and she abandoned her with the same velocity. It was then, that I decided to cancel her from our life".

"But Daphne told me she did come back again"

"Yeah… when her father died. He was a very special person, it was a terrible loss. I knew she hadn't t hang out with Nicholas's father in years. She introduced herself, apologizing for being used by him. She wanted to see Daphne, she told that she had understood her mistakes. It was Daphne who didn't want her anymore. I still believe that the disappointment she read in Daphne's eyes leaded her to close herself off and commiserate herself. Instead of fighting for Daphne, she left for good".

"So you frustrated Daphne and Nicholas because of this?" Chuck was hooking up all the pieces.

"After many years, I gained knowledge that Elisabeth had another child, born almost a years later than Daphne. I thought it was Nicholas, so it was only when I had the certainty that I was wrong that I let Daphne free to live her life" he deeply looked into Chuck eyes "I couldn't lose her"

"So, on the contrary, you let her err on her own" Chuck adamancy commented, knowing too well that part of the story.

"I did many mistakes with Daphne too… But I didn't lose her. And, Charles, I've never stopped looking for you. Since when we found out about you, we started a never-ending investigation. If we only had known that you were always been there, by your sister's side…" the grandfather took Chuck's hands in his.

"Do you want to tell all of this to the press?"

"We've been waiting for long for this. Wherever your mother is…"

"She's dead" Chuck replied categorical.

"Wherever she is" The grandfather said it again, facing the sorrow "Charles I can't allow that man to ruin your and your friends life. There will be a fuss and I need you to be ready for this. So we asked Blair to write the article. She talking to Josephine right now."

"Blair?" Chuck was confused.

"They were using her against us" Chuck stood speechless and then he realized how stupid he had been in the previous weeks.

"They didn't want her because of this…" he whispered. He suddenly felt like an asshole. He wanted that she was fired. He desperately wanted it.

He wanted her to pay for her accusations. He wanted to see her crawling to apologize to him, telling him she needed him. He wanted her to destroy her connection with that insignificant man on Brooklyn, she believed in more than him. He looked down ashamed of himself. He was a selfish bastard.

"I know what you did Chuck" his grandfather knew everything "and I'm not proud of it, but I think that you know this"

"I didn't.." Chuck tried to find a reason that didn't sound silly.

"You couldn't know. I know this too. And I know what it means to love someone with all your heart. Sometime it blinds you, it makes you feel powerless and a revenge is the only way that helps you in some kind of ways to show what you're feeling… I know it very well" Mr. Harvey patted Chuck on the back to comfort him. It was clear to him that his nephew was regretting his acts.

"You're better than us Charles. You're better than parents. You can be a better person Charles" his grandfather was sure about that. It was is biggest wish.

Chuck lowered his gaze shyly. He was not used at people who believed in him.

"How about some fish?" he finally asked, changing the subject.

_**I've always wondered how far we could go for love. I've always thought that the principles were so solid and important that we couldn't destroy them. I couldn't bare all the rebukes from people I believed wrong, but when my life twisted, I realized I was the wrong one. There's a tiny line between being selfish and love someone unconditionally, which leads you to fight for the one you care about. I did things I've never thought possible and I'm not ashamed about it, because I'll do it again for the same reasons, without any kind of hesitations. There are moments when the most important people of our life come first.**_

* * *

_****_I'm sorry for waiting so long to update, but I've been quite busy in the last few weeks!

I want to thank you all for keeping on reading Fate and I hope to read some of your feedbacks!

As always, Thanks to Cry, for supporting me and helping me!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**When the world is at Blair Waldorf's feet!**

**The truth about our family was going to come out with Chuck's introduction to the whole world. I didn't know if I had to feel anxious or happy about it. In some kind of ways I felt ashamed for being finally free. It was as if the past was slowly letting go of me for the first time. Chuck, in some kind of ways, was my way out. His presence, allowed me not to be alone anymore, under everyone's eyes and expectations.  
His life was changing for good. He was destined to be one of the most talked- about person of the entire planet. My life was changing too, because, I could have finally found a little private space for me.**

"Today, Daphne Harvey, the most famous European heiress, will attend the SNC Corporation summit for the first time, in the place of her grandmother, Josephine Victoria Harvey, who has disappeared in the last few months. The board will talk about the replacement of the CEO Thomas Porter, passed in Barcellona three months ago". Valentina was following carefully the BBC news, reading, at the same time, the Wall Street Journal.

On her right there was a pile of newspapers from all over the world which she daily had to read and catalogue for her employer. But that wasn't a day like any other. Daphne had told her.  
They were throwing themselves in the center of the storm and it would have been a terrible nightmare.

"So, What's on the Times?" her colleague asked, focusing on what to do. He was new to these kind of twisting experience at the Harvey's Empire, but he would have learned fast how to manage.

Their manager had a fever over 105 °F and Daphne had send him home, even if he wanted to stay there, knowing exactly that a new chairmanship at SNC and the exit of Waldorf's article would have created a huge chaos.

"I still haven't read it! Wasn't it Katherine's?"

"No, I'm reading the French press" the other one replied from the other side of the room, while the phones kept on ringing.

"Who's watching the German's newscasts?" asked another one on the opposite side of the office and the reaction of the entire place was sudden: silence.

They were all working without any specific dispositions. No one was able to answer the phone and, even worse, no one knew what to say.

"Valentina, what are you doing?" Rudolf asked her, watching her standing up and walking to the door.

"This all situation is unmanageable…" she replied walking out of the room.

She ran up the steps reaching Daphne's office. She knew that she was busy as much as them, but she was the boss, so she was the one who had to find a solution.

"Valentina" Daphne seemed surprised to find her knocking at her the door. She was right behind her, in the alley, reading the article and speaking on the phone.

"It's chaos, Miss Harvey! The press office is haywire, we don't know what to do…" she explained quickly. She was terrified but she didn't want to get fired.

"Where's Anthony?" the grandfather asked on the other line of the phone.

"I've send him home, he was sick" Daphne replied, staring at Valentina with apprehension. The press

office had to work, especially with the exit of the new article.

"What's going on exactly?" Daphne asked the girl, thinking about something.

"We don't know what to do, we are ignoring some press. In addition, for some of us this is the first experience in this kind of situations, and without a boss…"

"We can't work without a press office manager! Daphne, find a replacement" the grandfather ordered with an imperative tone of voice.

"I've been thinking about it for an hour." She replied to him. "Where can I find one with such a rush?" Daphne touched her hair. She hated to be the one in charge of everything.

The grandfather was transporting the grandmother to the Hamptons house to stay away from chaos and she was alone to manage all the difficulties, while Chuck was blocked at the Charles Place because of a last minute problem.

"I don't care if they don't answer your calls Dorota! That bag is my right!" Blair Waldorf came up the stairs, totally focused on her call. The last Chanel purse must have been hers, especially when she was plotting with Daphne Harvey, the hit girl of the fashion stylists.

"Do you know what does it mean, that next week I'll be asked for many interviews? I can't be seen after the article with a month old bag, right?" then she stayed in silence waiting for the answer.

Daphne stared at her with amusement. Blair was rolling her eyes up while mimicking what the other one was saying to her.

"You have 10 minutes Dorata! Nothing more… Don't ask me how! Buy an entire exchange to get in touch with Chanel as fast as possible, and if necessary ask for Karl" she firmly ended the conversation shaking her head. It wasn't possible that she always had to explain to everyone what to do.

"Daphne, are you still there?" The grandfather called back her attention from the other side of the handset.

"I think I've just found the right person" she replied to him with a malicious smile.

* * *

"They arrived" Chuck announced her, sitting right in front of his sister.

"At least, they are far from here" Daphne commented, leaning on the back of her chair-

"The security is ready for any emergence. I don't think we'll be able to keep them hidden for long, so I've already ordered to the heliport to get ready to prepare the helicopter at any time" he explained his plan, looking at her.

"Your chalet?" she asked opening a magazine.

"No one knows I bought it" he seemed satisfied by his new property. He had paid 13 thousands of dollars for a chalet in a safeguarded park, with 30 rooms with own bathrooms, a big pool, a big whirlpool on the terrace, a gym and an iced lake. It was spectacular.

"The only thing that matters is that no one could bother them. The grandmother is still too weak to face the press" she kept on reading the magazine, then she closed it.

"That girl has talent… this article is amazing" she handed him the magazine with their family picture on the cover. There was Blair Waldorf's signature next to the picture. He swallowed before taking it.

"You should have left her out" he said in a firm voice. He has been trying to tell her it for a week. Letting Blair entering into their own business was going to mess up her life even more. She was too exposed and they couldn't protect her

"You should have thought about it earlier" she suddenly replied, not backing down.

"If something happens to her…" he threatened her, reading her name on the cover again.

"If you hadn't played the part of the most selfish men of the selfish category, we wouldn't have been here" she accused him. He wasn't in the position to judge.

"You have no idea what you're talking about!" he defended himself. No one knew.

"If you're referring to get her fired because Dan Humphrey told her a few bullshits about you, then yes, I do!" she rocked the chair.

"She believed him" he placed his hands with fury on the table, but she didn't make a move.

She knew how he felt, but that wasn't a good reason to fire Blair.

"And you've decided to ruin her carrier"

"I've never cheated on her!" he kept on saying, still hurt.

"Well, maybe you have cheated on her in a different kind of ways" she explained, deepening the argument.

"Enough" he stopped, standing up. He was tired.

"Standing up and leaving is easy. Too bad for you that you are an Harvey now. You can't walk away to avoid problems. When you were just a Bass maybe it was ok, but it's not anymore" her words made him turn toward her.

He was angry.

"I let her go because she wanted to marry the _Prince Of The éclairs_ but she ended up cleaning dishes in Brooklyn" he stated.

"We both know why she agreed … and if I'm not wrong, in Prague you were an housekeeper too…" his sister specified.

"You don't know anything! No one knows what's between me and Blair! Stay out of this!" he scolded her.

"Wow! She says the same. You two should talk about this"

"She refused to talk to me for 3 times, and she believed every bullshit against me! I've nothing left to say to her"

"Do you really believe that being with you is easy, Chuck?" Daphne stood up for the first time.

"Believing in you, when your love towards yourself is so little that you aren't able to prevent yourself from failing again or hurting who loves you? Do you think it's nice being shut in the desperation and never being able to see the light? Do you think is right, keeping on believing in fake promises and sacrifice all of you for love?" she made the list, raising her voice.

He stood motionless, with his jaw stretched, looking into her eyes.

"I'm not Nicholas" he replied, well aware that he was hurting her too.

She suffered the blow, but she didn't back down.

"You're not, but you're acting like him" she said with watery eyes.

"She believed that insect" he tried to explain her for the second time.

"Have you told her the truth, without attacking her?" when he didn't reply she kept on talking "Playing behind someone's back is a coward act".

"Are you defending her?" he puffed in order to avoid the part of the conversation about him.

The features on his sister face softened. She knew him too well, she knew how to behave according to his moods. Maybe they were too similar, or maybe it was because they've been knowing each other for so long.

"I know you're hurt" she got closer. "As well as I know, that opening your heart is difficult to you. That accusation hurt you because it came from her. I know it Chuck" she took his hands in hers, staring at him. "I feel sorry for the fact that you've grown up without someone who could have taught you how to love and to trust people. But I can't stay here without telling you that what you did is wrong… And you know what I've been through… don't ask me to take side, because you already know who I'd supported".

* * *

"Daniel Humphrey" the man in front of him pronounced his name with scorn.

"Who am I talking to? Why am I here?" Dan asked from the door of the dirty and isolated pub of the city.

His source at the magazine had told him that this person wanted to talk to him, then he had charged the road under the stair to find a fat man with a pipe and dark sunglasses, who sat on the only chair at the center of the room.

"Who I am, is not important" he replied with arrogance, while changing position on his chair. He had a strong Russian accent.

"Then, I'm leaving" Dan turned towards the door to run a way as far as possible.

"You won't" he said to Dan, who was opening the door just to find two huge bodyguard to stop him.

"No… I won't" he turned, hoping to find another way out. He was trapped and he didn't like that man.

"My name is Ivan Petrovic Alexandrevsky" he introduced himself. Dan paralyzed.

"Are you that Alexantrevsky?" he asked getting anxious. He suddenly thought about Daphne's words about his articles _'someone hadn't understood'_.

"I have information you can use" the Count said, without caring about Dan reactions.

"For an article?"

"You'll be the guy who'll thread the blade to destroy the Harveys"

"Me? I – I don't think it's me. I don't know what you've read about me but I write different kind ofthings. I can leave you the numbers of my colleague, Chris Stephenson"

The man stared at him with indifference. It was clear to Dan, that he believed he was an idiot.

The Count finally knotted his hand on the table before shouting something at the door.

" 2 Vodka!" he ordered, pointing at Dan the chair in the corner.

Dan stood speechless. Listening to Daphne and risking his life or sitting with the man and be safe?

The man hacked. Dan understood and took the seat.

"You've made the right choice" the other one nodded at him.

* * *

"So… Blair wrote the article" Nate was taking a look at the magazine.

"It seems so" Serena commented, sitting on the sofa, on the opposite side of Daphne's desk.

"Have you two spoken to her?" Nate asked to Serena and Chuck, who was staring outside of the window.

"It's not my intention" . It was Serena the one who answered. Nate leaned his back comfortable on the chair.

"Sooner or later.."

"She's the one who did something wrong" she cut his sentence.

Chuck racked his brains. After his previous argument with Daphne, Serena's point sounded childish.

"You should at least try to call her" he spoke without turning his gaze toward her.

"She didn't" she replied back at Chuck.

"Come on Serena, you know her better than all of us. She's going through a terrible period…" he admitted out loud for the first time in weeks.

"She betrayed me! And you, Chuck, should know it feels like" She hit him where he hurt the most and she knew it. He lowered his gaze.

"You're sisters.." he started again.

"We were" she corrected him.

"You've always been sister to each other and you'll always be. You're just too proud to admit that you both desperately miss each other" he was sincere to her. He knew them and he could see how much Blair's absence was killing Serena.

"She's been with Dan"

"Actually she says that's not true" Nate interrupted her.

"But he likes her" she insisted watching Chuck's jaw tightening. "Don't tell me Chuck that this doesn't bother you?!" she provoked him.

"Do you think that knowing that she's eating pizza from a box in Brooklyn amuses me?" he exploded.

"Then you understand me" Serena composed herself.

"You've been with Dan too" Nate pointed out, interrupting her again.

"No, sis.." Chuck suddenly replied. "You're allowing him to ruin your friendship, something that means more than anything they can share. If he really was worth it as you think, he would have respected the thing that matter the most to you and Blair, which is your sisterhood. You're punishing Blair for something he did to you. If you don't fight for Blair now, you'll regret it for the rest of your life. You'll lose her forever, Serena. Is it what you really want?" he was looking into her blue eyes.

He knew how much Blair was suffering for the loss of Serena. He had stand by her side many times when they had fought hard and he knew exactly where the problem was. It was not Blair's mistake, considering that Serena had done even worse things, but Dan's naivety not to realize what he had created, how much pain he had caused of the women of his attentions. Getting in the middle of Blair and Serena meant killing Both Serena and Blair.

"Blair, I'm quite surprised… How could you find all those articles in less than an hour?" Daphne was really surprised.

"You don't know the Waldorf method. I locked them inside and I threatened them, telling them that we would have stayed there till tomorrow morning without eating or going to the toilet till I would have found the reports on my desk. It worked!" she praised. From her voice it was clear that she had won a mission.

"Hi guys!" Daphne greeted, finding them in her office. Blair followed behind.

She didn't know they were there, especially Chuck and Serena. She felt a sense of dismay and she didn't know how to react. It had been so long since all of them had been together and right there, she knew that her friends were together to visit Daphne, not her. A feeling of jealousy hit her. It was her place.

"Blair, what are you doing here?" Nate asked.

"Today Blair is our press office manager" Daphne said it with emphasis.

"What? When?" Chuck was caught out. The more Daphne involved Blair, the more he felt uncomfortable.

"Since this morning" Blair answered him with an hart tone in her voice. She seemed angry.

What he felt when she looked into his eyes wasn't likable.

"Congratulation!" Nate seemed the only one happy about it in the room.

Serena simply stared at her without saying a single word. Her silence was terrible, thinking back at all the times when she hugged her and yelled of joy for Blair's victory. Blair lowered her gaze, feeling that emptiness.

Valentina ran in the office.

"Mr. Sullivan on the phone" Daphne leaned tired on the chair. It was 11 in the morning and the only idea to speak with him, killed her.

Chuck made a step toward her, ready to help her. He knew him too. He was a close friend of the grandfather and an enormously pain in the ass.

"He's not asking about you, Miss Harvey, neither about you Mr. Bass... He wants to speak with Miss Waldorf".

All the room looked at Blair. After an hour, all the clients were looking for her.

"I'll take it here" Blair announced, showing indifference for their expressions.

She was on top. Chuck's gaze or Serena's silence didn't matter. She was the head of the press office of the most powerful American Foundation. She was the one on charge.

Before answering the call, she turned to her employee.

"Tell your colleague with the Geox shoes" she twisted her nose. Chuck did the same. "That if he doesn't bring me all the information I asked him, he'll have to answer the Japanese calls all day. Ah and I want a coffee... with a dash of milk. A big cup, clean!"

The other 4 in the room, watched her while she let the girl go away and answered the phone as they weren't even in the same room.

"Mr. Sullivan, what a pleasure!" then a silence.

"I perfectly understand your worries, but as I said 10 minutes ago, Mr. Harvey is out of town and Miss Harvey is busy at the moment. I think you'll understand that this afternoon meeting needs time to be prepared" she leaned on the desk.

"Of course! I know what you mean... Believe me, if there something you need to know you can ask me!" She crossed her leg, something that Chuck couldn't miss.

"Ahaha" she laughed.

She was pleasing him, Chuck thought. He knew her deep into her chore. She could become a tiger.

"You're such a lovely person Mr. Sullivan. When I'll get in touch with Mr. Harvey I'll refer you".

Chuck couldn't take his eyes off of her. That was what he had imagined for years. His woman, in his office, on his desk, trying to destroy the world, inspiring him all the dirtiest thoughts. He tried to avoid that image. She had believed in Dan fucking Humphrey, he repeated to himself.

"You butter me up Mr. Sullivan! And Please, greet your wife for me. Have a nice day!" Blair ended the call and sighted in relief. She hadn't realized that Valentina was still at the door yet.

"What are you still doing there? I want my coffee, Now!"

Daphne couldn't contain her laugh.

* * *

Her phone was always occupied. Ha had called her at least 20 times.

He didn't know what had changed in his feeling toward her, but knowing that that man had done something so bad to her, infuriated him. He had to tell her the truth. He tried again. He would have waited a few more rings than he would have looked for her.

"Humphrey I'm busy at the moment, I hope that your 21 calls are due to something really important"

"Blair"

"What do you want?" she was distracted. It was clear to him that the noises behind her, came from an office.

"Where are you? Can we meet?"

"I'm working now, and as I said I'm quite busy. If it's not something compelling I'll call you later"

"It's about Chuck" he stated. On the other side he felt a moment of confusion.

"Dan, I really appreciate your way to guard on me, but whatever is going to happen between me and Chuck is not of your business"

"He got you fired" he explained.

"And who told you this?" Blair pretended to be indifferent.

"I, I can't tell you this Blair... I don't think I can. Wait! You don't believe me?"

"Anyone can lie... and if your source is not reliable..." she faked haziness.

"Does the name Alexandrevsky seem reliable to you?"

"I need to go. We'll talk about this when I'll have time" she put an end to the call.

Dan threw up his hands. He had to prevent Chuck from ruing her life. It was obvious to him, that he was influencing her again. Serena had been right at the beginning of their morbid relationship. "Chuck has a weird influence on Blair".

He had to do something.

He took the phone and made a call. When they answered he was clear and terse.

"You'll have what you want".

**Being an Harvey meant being a reigning. It was not just a matter of royal titles or block of shares destined to be high because of our family name. Being an Harvey meant that every single move we made, even the silliest one, would have hang on everyone around us. When I was a child and the grandfather hosted me in his office, he always said to me: "If I fail, everyone pays my dues". Every day, personal hate, war injuries, fester secrets, lumbering enemies, mined that rule, but the winning card was using our means and fighting everyday with clear mind. Maybe this was the reason why I've always believed that the loyalty and frankness needed to be honored. The biggest of the biggest was the one who knew that is own mistakes could have been lethal on the others, too.**

"As expected, he got in touch with him" Blair sat next to Daphne in her limo, which was taking them to the board meeting. Her voice disclosed some kind of sadness. She cared about Dan, she trusted him.

"What does he know?" Daphne asked her, looking out of the window.

"He knows that Chuck asked for my layoff a few weeks ago" she explained, still disturbed about what he had done to hurt her.

"He's been conned" Daphne commented. Chuck was right about him. he was just a fall guy who wanted to believe that the things were exactly the way he saw them.

"I've been told that the Count hadn't told his brother that Chuck is an Harvey. He played with him, telling him that you were his ex and I'm his actual girlfriend. I fear that he knows you're betraying them. Probably, he thinks that this news about Chuck could help you change your mind again"

"Do you think that he knows I'm plotting with you but that I don't know anything about my layoff?" Blair asked Daphne.

"He's sharp and slimy, Blair. He's scarifying his brother all over again..."

"I'm not following... do you think he's letting us win this battles?"

Daphne nodded. The only thought riled her.

"It's his harmless tentative to convince you and try to resolve his brother's mistakes. But don't underrate him, Blair. He knows you're not going to change your mind, plus he had always considered his brother an incompetent. They've been at war for so long. When they had to inherit, Ivan took everything away from Dimitri. Ha was just using his brother against us, taking advantage of his brother's social climbing desires".

"But why didn't tell him about Chuck?"

"Ivan amuses himself watching whoever is lower than him, succumbing. Everyone is useful, no one is necessary"

"Better giving up you pawn if your enemy is stronger, than losing the king..." Blair commented, almost fascinated. "You were right about Dan" she admitted turning her head to watch outside of the window.

"He's just using him, like any other... He's appealing to Chuck and your relationship in order to convince him to write against us... I had advised him to stay out of this"

"Do you think he's going to write about my layoff?" Blair felt betrayed. Blurting out what Chuck had done to her, would have humiliated both of them.

"Chuck and you, are just pawns of the game. I don't know if he knows about the article, but what's clear, is that he is aware about our notification at the Board today, and he's going to wait before replying"

"We need to standby" Blair held her head high. He would have paid too.

"I think that our article is going to floor in advance, Dan's one" Daphne showed off certainty, even if she knew that Ivan could have hit a more painful frontline for her. "What have you said to Dan?"

"I pretended to be unaware of it, so he confirmed me what we suspected" Daphne nodded to Blair in approval.

It was the best way. The day she had talked to her about the articles she had realized that they couldn't have secrets. His brother had made a mistake and if that information would have leaked it could have destroyed the entire family group. She had to protect the Empire and most of all, she had to protect Blair who was helping them.

"I'm really sorry for what you're into Blair...and I'm eternally grateful to you for what you're doing for my family"

"I did it for me. I've been used, which is something I disallow anyone to do" she said suddenly.

"I hope that this could affect my brother too" there was sincerity in Daphne's voice while was turning her gaze from the window to Blair.

Blair got surprised. In those days she had understood that Daphne was frank and honest. If she wanted to say something, that was exactly what she thought.

"Things with Chuck are different" she lowered her gaze.

"All I can say to you Blair, is that in spite of the events, he really cares about you" she articulated the last part of the sentence slowly. "...in his life no one has ever scolded him for his mistakes, but, deep inside, he's a good guy... a nice little revenge would help him!" Daphne finished, winking at Blair.

Blair stared at her. She really liked Daphne Harvey.

* * *

"As we are all present, we can officially declare this Board meeting opened. Today's agenda will focus on the designation of the new CEO and the layoff of a few operators of the company. The notary Hulman will transcribe the report" Mr. Trump opened the session.

"I'll start introducing something of the most importance. I've heard about a very embarrassing situation for the SNC. Some of us have been contacted with the intent to sabotage the poll, using the meaning of the corruption and the slander".

After hearing his words, the room started grumbling. Mr Bright, Blair's boss, un-knocked his tie. Dimitri had told him that everything was going to be as planned, which wasn't the case.

"Miss Harvey, can you explain?" Mr. Trump floored the wholw room. Daphne silently stood up.

"Yes Mr. Trump, If You allow me, I need to speak in my grandmother's name. There are questions that today could influence the vote".

The 40 members of the board looked at each other, before staring back at her in agreement. The major part of them knew that it was all about the Harveys and the presumed info that Mr. Bright asserted against them.

He had talk about some kind of hidden scandal to reveal. The only fact that Daphne Harvey was attending the board with Chuck Bass, who had presumably helped her to have an abortion, forcing her grandmother to leave the city, as for the Bright's news, embarrassed them all.

"As you know, my family has an almost centenary business history... Almost all of you know my grandparents and esteem them, so I count on that to believe that you can try to trust me the same way... We've been through a terrible moment. All the information you've received are not a slander, but they're part of a plan I've personally plotted".

The room became noisy, so Daphne waited a second before speaking again.

"Some unresolved problems caused by a family's rival, had leaded the persons who had contacted you to play behind our backs, in order to take the head of the board.. What you've known was fake, it was a plan created with the intention to realize if our suspects on them were right. Before dealing with this disrespectful act, I think I need to publicly explain what they were using to sabotage us. Next to me, you all see Charles Bartholomew Bass, who has become, for some ridiculous gossip magazine, my life partner" she smiled, still amused by those rumors.

"Actually, I can say that they're right" she took his hand in her, attracting everyone attention.

"Charles Bass is my brother, the second born of Elisabeth Harvey, my mother... our mother... who had hidden him from us for many years after abandoning the both of us when we were kids. I've never had a relationship with him, neither a common baby".

The room was shocked.

Charles Bass, the New York major fortune heiress, the damned guy from the Upper East Side, the young talented businessmen, always ready to push the limits, was an Harvey. That news would have overturned many people.

"You can understand our surprise and the pain felt at the revelation of the lost past, but on the other side, you can't imagine how proud I am to officially introduce Chuck as part of the Family to all of you and as a new heiress of our Family Empire". She smiled together with some of old of the board.

They knew the grandparents pretty well, so they understood the reasons which had moved them to postpone that coming out. Some others were still confused. That news would have changed many board assets.

"So why Josephine Harvey is not here today?" Mr Bright asked with arrogance. He wasn't able to contain his anger toward the Count's brother. It was all the opposite from what he had assured him and everyone in the room was looking at him with questioning glares.

"You're right Mr Bright. I have to justify my grandmother's long absence which is due to some serious health problems. Recently she had surgery caused by a serious heart attack. The long period of stress and sufferance she had been through, has almost killed her. I suppose you can understand our need to leave out the press" she looked at Chuck. "So I'm now obliged to denounce at the board, the terrible behaviors of Mr. and Mrs. Bright, two members of this board, who had threatened their employee, Blair Waldorf, to find and use private information about my grandmother to gain the chairmanship of the group, supported by the help of Dimitri Alexdrevsky. Taking advantage of Blair situation, he tried to get behind our backs lying to all of you".

"What you're saying is not true!" Mr. Bright stood up but Daphne gestured his secretary to deliver a few envelopes to each member of the room.

"Inside the envelopes you can find all the proves of my charges. Miss Waldorf has been promised that she wouldn't have lost her job, if she had find suitable secrets against my family. Fortunately, Blair has understood the game and helped me to protect my family. You'll also find all the lies we have built to set these people on the wrong tracks. There's also the last exclusive copy of People, which is going to go out in the next 6 hours with an interview where my grandmother and I talk for the first time about our past. It was the right time to do this. As for the chairmanship, my grandmother is feeling better so she's still available for the position and had made specific provision for you. Outside of the room, are her personal lawyer and her notary, who has written all the guarantee she's giving you, from the name of her substitutes for the board and who's going to control her personal quotes of the society"

"Let them in" Mr. Trump gave the permission.

"Also Miss Waldorf, please"

Chuck turned toward Daphne, with a confused expression.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"What our grandmother asked me"

In a few minutes they were all in the congress room, sitting at the end of the table. The lawyer opened the envelope showing it to the notary of the board.

"It's certified" he stated, allowing the lawyer to read it.

"I, Josephine Victoria Harvey, with this document, announce a proxy to maintain the continuity of the Board activities. As my nephew explained, my physical condition will oblige me to a monthly rest. According to this and with the intent to ensure you a loyal and correct act, as always, I've officially nominate two guarantors who will take my place at the meetings and will work by my side on behalf of the Group. The 30% of my shares and the half of my possible chairmanship goes to Charles Bartholomew Bass, my nephew. It's about time, the world starts to know him as an heiress of our family and start being surprised by his talent, as much as we have".

Chuck lowered his gaze. He didn't know anything about it, but the possibility to work with his sister excited him.

"As for the other name, I've long consulted my other nephew, Daphne, and our choice hangs on the person we think has the charisma and the capabilities to carry this role. I deeply esteem her and we think it's an interesting choice, but risked at the same time. She's young as Charles, and she still needs to learn a lot about business. As per any possible public consequences of my decisions, I'll answer now once and for all: whatever she'll do in her private life, is anyone's business. So, for the gratitude towards her, I entrust the 70% of my quotes, as well as the other half of the possible chairmanship, to Miss Blair Cornelia Waldorf. If you haven't doubt your trust in me, don't be scared by this choice. I've meditated it for long and I wouldn't be more sure about it. This board owe this girl much, for her courage and the loyalty to this Group and his ethical values. I'm quite confident that Charles and her won't disappoint us".

"What kind of joke is this?" Mr. Bright was shocked by the members nodding to Josephine's will.

Daphne smiled to Blair, who was staring at Mr. Bright with air of superiority.

She was aware about the designation, because Daphne had briefly told her about it in their way to the meeting, and despite the vote for the CEO role, since that moment on she would have sit at that table with the majority of the shares.

"Is this your idea?" Chuck whispered to his sister.

"A so unique talent without a job. Such a waste... I'd rather have to thank you for firing her..."

"It's all about the layoff?"

"Stop complaining, Chuck! You wanted her back in NY and far away from Humphrey? Well... you'll work with her every single day!" she patted his shoulder.

Chuck, swallowed. That was their revenge. His eyes met Blair's. What he saw was victory. She knew what he had done to her, He could read it in the way she mocking smiled and looked at him. He felt a stab in the stomach, a sense of guilt.

"Let me thank all of you for the attention. All the following decisions are up to you". Daphne finally sat back.

"Thank you Miss Harvey for your honesty. I, for myself, have been contacted and been threatened a few times for my vote. I don't have proofs, but my only intention to give my support to the right person" Mr. Strindberg admitted out loud. Daphne nodded.

"How many of you has been contacted?" Mr. Trump asked.

24 persons lifted their hands. 2 more than the half. It was predictable. They were the less close to her family, but not the more gullible.

"If there's nothing left to say, we can vote" Mr. Trump stated. "How many votes for Josephine Victoria Harvey and her guarantors?"

35 people lifted their hands.

"I declare Josephine Victoria Harvey, CEO of the Group".

In a matter of a few seconds the all board clapped and stood to hold Chuck, Blair and Daphne's hands.

* * *

"You'll pay me for this Blair" Mr. Bright threatened her with fury.

"What a pity, haven't you realized it yet?" she smiled devilishly at him. "The only one who can fire or put the end on the other, here, is me now!"

"Didn't you know that Charles asked us to fire you?" he played his last card.

"Chuck was just anticipating your moves. Don't you understand? It was all part of our plan..." she lied to him. She wouldn't ever gave that slimly, the satisfaction to see her capitulating.

"By the way, If I were you, I won't accuse anyone anymore, because, I actually could present an application to let you out of the board and, we both know, that I'd find the majority by my side... Do you really want to lose your job?" she ended. "Before you go. Please, thank your wife for me. She was right! I really have a wonderful job!".

The man left the room humiliated. That girl had swindled him.

Blair followed him with her gaze. She was satisfied. No one could steer her. When she turned to the other members she found Chuck standing right in front of her.

"Congratulations, Waldorf" He extended his hand out. She simply look at it.

"You're right, Bass. Congratulation to me" she replied victoriously.

"I..." he took back his hand, glancing down. He was going to apologize, she knew him better.

"I thought you that believed in me" she said with sadness. "Instead, You'd always tried to decide what I had to do and how. I know that sometime it wasn't evilness.. But not today. You know? I'm happy, I earned you family's respect by myself. I deserved this place"

"You've always deserved better, Blair"

"To be fired, too?" she replied back, unable to hide her disappointment.

"Blair.."

"There are no excuses Chuck. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy my moment. I owe much to your grandmother and I'm not going to let down her expectations on me. I guess you know what I mean... I'll see you on Monday at 7 o clock in my office"

"At 7?" he asked perplexed.

"There's a briefing with the staff planned at 7. If you arrive at 7:01 you'll stay out" and then she left

him.

He couldn't do anything but staying there and watch her.

* * *

"I have to admit, people don't lie saying that the Charles Place is one of the most exclusive Hotel in New York... Manhattan conquers the seediest part of the town..."

"It's mine" Chuck praised himself, sitting on the sofa and crossing his legs. He's been quite since the end of the Board.

"I've heard that the new project is even more ambitious"

"If you don't take the risk, you die" Chuck grabbed the cigar the other one was handing him.

Then, Nicholas stood up and walked toward the opposite sofa. He was wondering what he could ask him. It was an odd circumstance.

"If you're in town to see Daphne, I think you're just wasting your time" Chuck anticipated him, even if that sentences gave him a bitterness aftertaste.

"You have no idea about how I feel Chuck" Nicholas sat and threw his head in his hands.

Chuck felt a knot in his throat. He knew exactly how Nicholas felt, because he felt it too every time he met Blair. He had felt it an hour before ,when she had thrown up in his face, the ashes from the fire he had started weeks before.

"I was blinded.. the thought that she had been with that bastard made me crazy..." Nicholas justified.

Chuck swallowed. Blair-Dan, a too indecent scene not to feel any kind of anger.

"I could have hurt her for revenge.." Nicholas was devastated. "She was mine..." he ended it slowly, only to realize that it was the past, he was talking about.

"She's been through 2 difficult years... if she rejects you, let her go". Was Chuck saying this to Nicholas or to himself? Because they were equal. 2 unforgivable motherfucker.

Nicholas stood speechless for a while.

"I can't..."

Chuck didn't stop him, he understood him.

"All the days are dark. Do you know what I mean Chuck?"

Chuck looked down at the cigar in his hand. How couldn't he? "If you love her, you have to let her go"

"What if it's wrong? Chuck, you've always told me not to give up on her"

"I've also told you to believe in her because she wasn't lying. You didn't have to accuse her of cheating and thrown her to your family" Chuck voice was firm.

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Nicholas stood with fury.

Chuck thought back at his past with Blair, all the sorrow he had caused her, all the pain, the darkness, the childish spites, done not to admit his own mistakes.

"But you did it" he stated, remembering that nothing could have changed it. He was himself responsible for everything. Blair had believed in him and he had hurt her instead.

"Maybe I don't deserve her" Nicholas speculated, walking to the bar to find the vodka.

"You don't deserve her…" Chuck said it, thinking about how much pain he was still causing to Blair, how much he had humiliated her, even at the hospital. If she was really happy with anyone else, he had to stop from creating her problems.

"Do you believe it?" Nicholas asked him back, thinking that Chuck was talking to him about him.

Chuck shocked away from his thoughts, and faked a smile.

"Come on Nicholas, you can fuck the all world, give her peace..."

As if the world could be worthy compared to Blair, he commented on himself.

**Putting Blair at the head of the Board and hiring her as my grandmother personal assistant wasn't a rash move. I chose her based on 3 reasons that coincided all with the word "future". The first one was her potentiality. It wasn't just a matter of intelligence or communication, but most of all her loyalty, her courage and the determination she used to rise up again every time. Chuck had never stopped praising her. Maybe she didn't know it, but she was the person he was proud of the most. Then we chose her for gratitude. Our family had always tried to identify the value of the honest and brave people. Blair had gave up on her on career to save our family, which was something we couldn't forgive. And, in the End, Chuck was the last reason. He needed her even he had never admitted it. ****Sometimes fate needed help.**

* * *

As you can read, things are changing for Blair.

I hope you're still liking this story. The next chapters will be full of Chuck and Blair ;)

Thank to all of you, who's reading and reviewing Fate! Thanks to Cry, as always ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight

The other face of success

**When Blair arrived in Monaco, a very difficult moment started for her. People didn't like her; they didn't find her credible in her capacity as plebeian princess; the royal family scolded her for any possible behavior, the press destroyed her every single day: she was too American, too Cinderella...I can still remember the morning when Chuck threw the paper out of the window. It was the nth reportage who compared her to Grace Kelly and underlined how she was a "faded copy of her icon and how she lacked of capabilities and charm compared to princess Grace".**

**At that time I knew Blair through Chuck's and Serena's stories, however, I knew better what kind of influence the press could have used on her at the level. They would have demolished her.**

"The villa is still surrounded by the press" the uncle complained, going into the big kitchen of the Hampton's house. The paparazzi have been there for a couple of days.

"I'll ask the security to increase the staff" the grandfather was putting a hand of Kellogg's in his cup of milk. The uncle took away his cup.

"How many times do I have to rebuke you? After tonight's dinner you can think of eating this one too!"

"Stop playing the mother John" Mr. Harvey replied clouding. "I'm the father here. I've changed you diapers!" he mumbled taking back his milk with Kellogg's.

The uncle puffed, heading to the fridge to find some fresh beer to drink. Parents were always the worst patients.

"I've met Daphne in NYC this morning. She told me that the media attention on us is still high. People magazine had to print more copies after the sold out of the first few hours. All of the TV shows talk about us and Chuck's story. The reservations at the Bass Hotels are over for the next 3 years and they have found a few meddlers at The Charles this morning. Yesterday the limo couldn't even leave the building"

"It's all worse than I've expected" the grandfather sighted. They have primed the fuse and it was just the beginning.

"That man won't get you away with it. Do you know this, right?" John asked, well aware where of what the real problem was. His father stayed in silence for a while.

"I've heard that the clinic is full of paparazzi" his father changed the subject.

"Yeah, but luckily for us, they are behaving respectfully for the patients. Plus, Blair made them believe that I was on a plane to Rio, so I can't complain at the moment. They want Chuck. He's the most talked-about descendant in the world, now". The uncle didn't hide a relief breath.

"You've never liked all the eyes on you" his father pointed out.

"I've always been different from her" John specified thinking about his past.

"I know it" Andrew Harvey took his hand and tightened the tie.

He'd always been the responsible and diligent son, away from the bad companies, and more focused on his own carrier. He had never cared about the money, the easy life or the fame he could have had in his position. He had dedicated all his life to the medicine and the humanitarian missions.

He was glad that his new nephew could give him a new way out from any possible attention on his own life.

"Have you read these articles which Daphne had sent to me?" Josephine was entering the room, bringing all the articles that would have gone out the day after, full of Blair Waldorf's pictures. The first of the list was called "First was Grace Kelly, now Josephine and Daphne Harvey: Blair Waldorf the shadow of the European monarchies".

The grandfather took it with fury. Till that moment Blair had been just a little quote on the articles about the board, but it seemed that the press had changed its interest on her.

He didn't like it, even if he knew it would have happened.

"Who wrote those idiocies?" John asked while his father eat up an article with disappointment.

"This is the paper where Daniel Humphrey works" Josephine specified showing them another piece of paper with a huge picture of Blair.

"The article is not his" her husband pointed out.

"Some of them slipped that Blair and Louis' relationship ended because of Chuck" Josephine explained them, the most delicate point of what she had read.

"I'll make a few calls" Mr. Harvey stated with authority. They had to protect Blair, especially after what she had done for them.

"You won't" John stopped him. " It's a terrible moment. We can't buy the press. Blair knows how to give them a proper answer".

Mr. Harvey looked at his wife, who was nodding in agreement.

"It was predictable that they'd quoted her past. Her missed marriage with Louis and her fixations with fairytales are easy materials to use against her... I've expected it... Too bad they don't really know her"

"I can't imagine how she could feel" Mr. Harvey shacked his head.

"I've called Eleanor to invite her at the party, tomorrow night. I'm sure she'll be a great supporter for Blair".

* * *

"Who wrote these?" Nate asked, still opening his eyes wide in front of the papers titles.

"A certain Timothy... he works with Humphrey for that magazine for psychopathic postmenopausal housekeeper who aren't fucked by their husband anymore" Chuck's comment was acid.

"«_Last May, Blair Waldorf had briefly accepted the proposal of prince Louis Grimaldi, she had met only months before in Paris. "Blair has always had a fixation with royalty. She had desired to marry one of them Since she was 5 years old. She's been with Nathaniel Archibald, the heiress of the Vanderbilt family. Everyone said they would have been married.. But She ended up with Louis instead, and she left him at the altar.. The truth is that we all know she wouldn't have married him. She had always aimed at Chuck Bass. Voices tell that she cheated on Louis with Chuck. I wouldn't be too surprised about it, she did the same with Nate. It was how her relationship with Chuck started, with a fling in his limo, just when his best friend Nate had left her" This is what a college friend of Blair said to us_.»" Nate was reading the article out loud.

"Blair has never had friends except Serena!" he pointed out, thinking back at what he just read.

"It was Penelope" Chuck finally stated. "I'm sure... She had always envied what Blair is, which is what she won't ever be" he commented tightening the hold on his glass of scotch in his left hand, while the other one, made a fist on the armrest. He had read every single magazine and he couldn't bear any shadow of charges against Blair.

"«_Some of us, wonder why her story with Louis, heiress of the Grimaldi's Family, the man she hanged out with and she was going to marry, ended up with the annulment of the engagement in September, without any valid explanations. Then she left France for London, where she stayed for a year. A source from the Grimaldi's Palace said that Blair committed an adultery during her last few weeks in New York, before leaving for the summer in Monaco with Louis_»… I can't believe it..." Nate shacked his head. Chuck tightened his jaw, his eyes set in two cracks.

"Man, you're out of this right?" Nate genuinely asked him. The light in his best friend eyes was enough. "You and Blair? Wait…When?"

Chuck swallowed.

"Chuck?" Nate urged him.

"The night she was kidnapped by Thorpe" Chuck stood up and headed to the window.

The memories of that night still nagged him. His faults, Blair scared by that man, both of them at the Bar Mitzvah, in the storeroom and then the break up, the awareness that someone else could make her happy, and their goodbye.

Nate took a look at the other papers on the table.

"They are talking about you too, man!" he took one of them.

" «_Blair Waldorf's story can't exclude a third stable name in her love life, who is Charles Bass, the son of the defunct Bart Bass, founder of the Bass Ind, the richest heiress of NY since he was 17, and presently on every papers for the last scoop about his parenthood with the Harvey's Family, which leads him to be heiress of one of the richest fortune in the whole world. Blair Waldorf too, works for the Harvey Foundation._

_Chuck and Blair are long standing friends, both raised in the Upper East Side and have been engaged for a year before his sudden disappearance which almost caused the bankruptcy of his father's empire. As For Blair Waldorf, after a year abroad, she's now the delegate of Chuck's_ _grandmother, Josephine Harvey, in the position of head of the CNS Corporation, together with Charles Bass._

_Blair's social climbing has always aimed at the crown and the princess fame. The fact that Chuck Bass is going to inherit many royal titles, will fire up the passion again in Blair Waldorf? Will she be able to wear that ring sooner than with the French prince?_»"

"They'll pay for what they're doing to her" Chuck walked fast to the bar of his living room. He couldn't bear those cruelties. He knew she would have been put on every covers. He knew it!

He looked all the other magazines and papers in the room: '_ From the Grimaldi to the Asburgo: Blair Waldorf's princess social climbing'; 'Blair Waldorf, from missing princess to Ceo of one of the planet Empires'; 'First was Grace Kelly, now Josephine and Daphne Harvey: Blair Waldorf the shadow of the European monarchies'; 'Charles is better than Louis, words of Blair Waldorf'; 'Blair Waldorf is back on top. Who cares about the Grimaldi anymore? Now it's the realm of the Harvey's', 'Scared about Daphne? Are you Waldorf?'._

Flim-flams, pure evilnesses.

"What do you have in mind?" Nate asked him, reaching the bar too.

"For the moment, I need to remind Penelope that she's just a pawn I move however I want" he was serious and determined. Nate got worried.

* * *

"Miss Blair, You're mother is downstairs"

"What is she doing here? Did you call her Dorota?" Blair accused her with aggressiveness.

"No, Miss Blair" Dorota replied defensively, "Maybe she here due to articles". She whispered knowing to well how critic the situation was.

"Shhh" Blair mimed with her finger on her mouth, before changing the subject. "I have a terrible headache and I'm not hungry... bring back the food".

Since the night before, When Valentina had delivered her all the magazines, Blair had spent the time in her closet, ordering Dorota what to do with her dresses, avoiding the problem. And every single time Dorota hinted at the articles, Blair started all over again with her layouts.

"What tell Mrs Eleanor?" Dorota asked taking the tray full of foods out of the room. Blair was seriously worrying her.

"Don't tell her anything... I can't stop her from coming upstairs... Instead, Tell her to come upstairs to see my new cabinet, but tell her to be fast because I'm quite busy..." Blair tried to sound indifferent " and tell her to bring me some macaroons" She ended. "Hurry up and stop staring me as if you would look at some zoo animals".

When Dorota was out of sight, Blair leaned closer to the mirror, touching her hair and staring at her features.

«_There're no doubt that Blair Waldorf can't be compared to the Harvey's women. Come on, Josephine is one of the most powerful women of the planet and Daphne is a style icon since she was 15. How, a common student, who had almost married the prince of a realm, as big as a bag of walnuts, believe to be at grade?_».

Those were the word of the Vogue director during an interview of the morning. She had been clear. On the screen they had even showed tons of pictures of the Wintur with Serena during the premiere of her fist movie.

A shake of anger run down Blair's spine. Serena van der Woodsen. Always more beautiful than her, more loved, the cover girl, the most famous one.

And Daphne. Beautiful, Refined, Clever, always impeccable, uninhibited, and adequately indifferent to magnetize everyone eyes. Daphne, the one at the top a worldwide company, upper than her, as titles and fame. The one who just had to make a call to have everything she desired, the one who didn't make the line to buy brand clothes, but so loved to received them as gifts. Daphne, loved by her employees, adored by the common persons, feared by the business men. Daphne Harvey with the biggest closet she had ever seen, with the most beautiful houses, the trimmest hands, the shining hair...

Blair took a newpaper in her hands and threw it against the wall. She trembled while looking at herself in the mirror with darken eyes.

«_Blair and Daphne, girls on the same age, but opposite on every other aspect. Blair Waldorf, always impeccably maked up, perfectly suited in thousand dollars clothes, arrogant and spoiled, addicted to luxury cars and uptown connections, versus Daphne, who's gentle and shining, chic even wearing simple jeans and t-shirts; an anti-conformist, who rather travel taking the subway than the limos, or having a conversation about the human rights than a gossip chat at twa rooms. A battle that Daphne win 10 to 0 against Blair Waldorf_».

She felt a knot in her throat. She had already lived that story. Against Serena, the best friend she had lost a year before.. Against the icons of her past...

She was always less beautiful, less winning, less lucky, less loved, less tall, less shining, engaged with the less famous boyfriends, the less important connections...

Blair Waldorf, who was born to be the first of her classes, but the last in the real world... Always a step behind, always humiliated, always suffering...

A tear run down her cheek.

It was like in her dreams, when she shouted 'I'm Blair Waldorf' but no words came out of her mouth. And she kept on going on, and on, but the only sounds she could hear were the name of Serena and Daphne.

She sat on her bed.

It had been a hard week and those articles had arrived in the moment she was finding her strength back.

She had met every single member of the board and she had organized a tea with all their wives. She had visited her new office and brought there all her things, while she was still managing the press office. She hadn't stop even for a second, and right when she could have leaved the foundation with the head held high, the articles about her, had been punches on her face.

She lied on the bed, cuddling up with her knees against her chest.

When she was with Chuck and she was facing terrible periods, he was used to bring her gifts and cuddle with her, to help her sleep. When Serena was still her best friend.. Even if she didn't know how she was putting Blair in her shadow, she usually hold her close and started a movie party to help Blair forgetting all her misfortunes.

"They don't deserve your cry" her mother was on the doorstep.

Blair quickly dried them. No one could have seen her in that condition.

"I've no idea of what you're talking about, mother! I was just cleaning my eyes. I have to tell Dorota, not to buy this soap anymore, It reddens my skin" Blair stood up, leaving her mother behind her back, to be able to recompose herself properly.

"Locking yourself inside this room doesn't work Blair"

"You're wrong. I was just tired, so I've decided to work at home. Plus, I can follow the work in my new closet. It seems like all the incompetents of the world know how to find me! I've told them the shoes should have been put on the right, but they left them on the left.." Blair explained turning to face her mother.

"Stop" Eleanor admonished her. "Stop pretending that everything is fine". She stared directly in her daughter's eyes. Blair glanced down at the floor.

"Why does it always happens to me? I tried to get over it, not to think about it, but I can't. What do they have, which I don't?" Blair admitted resigned and deeply torn by that tote. Her mother got closer.

Blair wanted to take her out, but her mother's ability to read through her, made her drop at her closeness.

A tear started falling, followed by the second. Her mother hugged her tight, caressing her brown hair and helping her to sit on the chest which was set at the end of her bed.

"Do you remember when I discovered that your father was gay?" Blair nodded.

"I thought that I couldn't make it. I ended up on every magazine. At the atelier everyone looked at me as If I was a loser. They were wrong. I'm here, stronger than before".

"What if I'm not as strong as I thought?" Blair whispered.

"Blair Cornelia Waldorf! I don't wanna hear something like this anymore! You're a Waldorf, and the Waldorf owe anything to anyone!" Eleanor scolded her, moving a bit, just to look in her eyes.

Blair opened her eyes wide.

"I haven't give you birth to see you locked in your own room, crying over some stupid articles! You're Blair Waldorf, not Grace Kelly or Daphne Harvey, and allow me, there is nothing in Serena van der Woodsen you have to envy! You're already special on your own to let someone tell you who you are!". Those words undermined her.

Chuck had said the same, when she was desperately trying to conquer the NY University. He had also said "_The next time you forget you're Blair Waldorf, remember I'm Chuck Bass. And I love you_". Because, to him, admitting it had been the hardest thing of his life but the one, he had never stepped back from.

She shyly smiled, thinking back at what she had put him through during her NYU's period. He had kissed a gay for a useless speech. Remembering moments of their past, without feeling pain, was a strange situation, almost lovely. It was like she was regretting that time, and she was feeling the need to smile at it too.

"What's so funny?" Eleanor asked, looking at her daughter's changing mood.

"Nothing" Blair wiped her tears. "Just... A few years ago, Chuck said the same" she lowered her gaze, still ashamed by the effect he still had on her.

"Sometimes, there are people who can read though us, before us" her mother caressed her face, to clean the latest tears.

"Any idea of the dress you'll wear tonight?" Eleanor asked her suddenly. "Josephine says that Daphne is going to wear Versace" she winked at Blair.

The grandmother was thinking about her, and probably Daphne too. One day she had told her that she hated Versace and that she was wearing it, just when she didn't want to be noticed.

"The many years of experience in fashion, helped me to know my dear, that you can't reply to an Italian stylist with another Italian stylist. It's compromising" Eleanor anticipated her.

She was teaming up with her. It was Team Waldorf against the public opinion.

Blair stood up, walking to her new closet. The energy she could see in her mother, shacked her for good. Eleanor was fighting for her. She wasn't alone. Too bad that her mother didn't realize, that nothing could have compared to anything Daphne would have worn.

"I've nothing to wear. Daphne has better dresses. Plus she's perfect 'also with jeans and t-shirts'" She quoted the article.

"How can they say it? You've never worn a t-shirt in your life" her mother complained, as it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Of course not!" Blair agreed defensively. "I'm not from Soho" Blair turned up her nose.

Eleanor then, reached her and took a rebel roll in her hand.

"I think we should study something new... something different... Copy an icon is constrictive. You've always followed classics, but that's what everyone does. You have a special refinement. You dictated style when you were 3 years old, which is a natural instinct. Since now on, you can't be associated to anyone who's already famous. We have to find your own style, something which tell who you are and make them envy you... I'll tell Gregor, my new stylist, to design your own line.. something personal, original... Now, for tonight... " Eleanor looked in her closet for something to wear, till she found an emerald silk dress.

"This" She showed it to Blair with enthusiasm "is the Blair Waldorf I know".

Blair couldn't stop but smiling. It was perfect, completely different from everything Daphne was used to wear and far from the Italian stylist range.

Her mother was right. She just had to dress differently and have her own line. She took the dress in her hands. She wanted to try it on suddenly.

"Miss Blair, wonderful" Dorota approved.

She was right. She felt wonderful.

No one knew it that it was one of the many Chuck's gifts, received by him, to forgive him for something. It had been designed for her but she had never worn it, not to give him the satisfaction of her forgiveness.

Blair looked at herself in the mirror, while her mother nodded with a bright smile.

* * *

"You made her take your place in the board?" Serena asked her, while waiting her coffee.

"She's capable and I'm too busy with other stuff" Daphne replied rolling her glass of orange juice in her hand.

"She has no experience" Serena objected. In her voice Daphne could fell a mark of anxiety and a bit of disappointment, so she looked at her with surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"She's just 20"

"So am I"

"You're doing this since you were 15!"

"Yes, and when I started, I didn't have experience too. By the way, she had worked as a brilliant copy editor for a year, raising up the sell"

"A work, Chuck procured her". Serena pointed out.

"A work she had maintained thanks to her capabilities" Daphne had no hesitation. Serena let the guard down. The real reason was another.

"Have you heard that she has made a new 80 meter closet in my bedroom?" Daphne was amused, her closet was just 40 meter.

"She's the CEO now" she justified that news.

"She wants to be better than you".

"I know". The way Daphne answered made Serena realize that it didn't bother her.

"Doesn't it scare you?"

"Should it? She's Blair Waldorf and I'm Daphne Harvey. We're two different people"

"Blair envies you!"

"I understand her. If I were Blair, I would envy me, too. Wouldn't you?" Daphne explained objectively. She really understood Blair, especially after all the articles about her past.

"No"

"Because you're Serena van der Woodsen"

"What do you mean?"

"You've always had fame and appreciations. Blair, in some kind of ways, had always lived in someone's shadow.. First her icons. When she was in Monaco, people didn't stop from telling her that she was copying Grace, and she couldn't really be compared to her. I read everything during that period... And then, she was your shadow.. first at the Constance and then, in her real life... you're the one who's always come out on top"

"It's childish! I've never done anything to hurt her"

"Sometime it's not on purpose. How many times has Blair reached what she really wanted?"

"When she lost it, it was all due to the fact that she selfishly had never accepted that she wasn't the only one on the planet"

"Blair is insecure and she got lost. There are no doubts about her lack of decency or cooperation with her enemies, but if she feels this way, we have some kind of guilt too"

"She had built a new closet to have it bigger than yours"

"If it does make her feel better, where is the problem?"

"She did it in my room" Serena busted it out.

"You haven't used it in a year, because you're no longer talking to her" Daphne specified. Serena sighted. When Daphne spoke like that she was like Chuck.

"She had..."

"Kissed Dan?" Daphne anticipated the end of her sentence. "Don't you think that this is just an excuse to stay here instead of being with her to comfort her?"

"I haven't been with Chuck"

"And she didn't do Dan"

"This can be untrue" Serena was still mad.

"Blair loves Chuck and you know it, as well as you know better than me, how she's feeling now. What the newspapers say about her is nauseating. They are playing with her fears and weaknesses. And even if you pretend to be indifferent, Serena, I know you're worried about her. Maybe she needs her real friend, don't you think?" Daphne finished her juice.

Serena glanced down at her hands.

She was really suffering for Blair. The night before, she had stayed outside her building, never finding the courage to enter. Knowing that she had demolished her room to be better than Daphne, had made her feel completely put out of her life.

She took one magazine in her hand. She knew where those shits came from.

She finally took her phone and sent a text to Chuck.

_'I need to talk to you'_

**There are days when everything falls apart. We can have someone who support us and prevent sadness, or we can try to be strong and walk alone with head high against the world and its difficulties. But at the end of the day, when we are alone in bed and in the darkness, we realize how much we need a hug, the one that sometimes we refuse for many times.****Everyone need someone. Alone, we're incomplete.**

"You can't believe what a day I had!" Daphne laid into the sofa of The Empire, where Nate still lived.

"The paparazzi?" Nate asked, never taking his eyes away from the tv. He was playing tennis with the Wii.

"They followed the Lamborghini all the way here. I have seriously thought that we've hit one of them"

"Chuck moved back in here to avoid them, but today they were outside".

"Where is he?"

"He's making a few calls" Nate relied. "Do you want the revenge?" He asked her hanging her the other remote control.

Daphne didn't need coaxing. She removed her shoes and her trench and rolled up the sleeves of her shirt.

"Are you sure, you want to hurt yourself again?" she smiled at him.

He vacantly stared at her for a while. There was something in that girl that enchanted him. It was not just the fact that she was beautiful or comfortable with anyone. Instead, it was the fact that he felt some kind of intimacy between them, the same one he had with Chuck.

"You're here" Chuck popped up from his old room.

"Chucky" She teased him, knowing that he hated labels. In the meantime Nate started the match.

"How was your trip in South Africa?" Chuck asked her, still concentrated on his telephone book.

"Relaxing, in spite of the jetlag". She looked at him, while he was sitting on the sofa.

"I've heard that you've been quite busy this week!" she stated before doing a crush.

Chuck grunted. He hated been teased and Daphne could never miss a chance of doing it.

"Why?" Nate didn't know anything. Chuck rolled his eyes. He was fucked.

"Monday morning he arrived at the meeting at 7:02 and Blair left him out of the room. He stayed out of the door for 2 hours and half"

"Man! This is the reason why you didn't want to talk!"

"Just for the record, I was there before Blair, at 6:30, but I received a call and I arrived at the meeting room at 7:02" He stated still proven. "She was behind my call. I'm sure about it"

"And I thought that you came late also the second day, just to make her feel powerful in front of our employee" Daphne commented, half teasing him, half seriously.

"Even the second day?" Nate couldn't believe it.

"She told me that the meeting was at 8… Obviously" there was sarcasm in his voice "The day before she had forgotten to communicate me she had anticipated the meeting at 7:30" Nate tried to hold his laugh.

"But grandma told me you've been adorable…" Chuck made a smirk, his sister was unbearable.

Daphne kept on talking to Nate.

"When they spent the afternoon, working in the Hamptons, Blair made him serve the coffee to all of the 30 employee... not to tell what Blair had done when he accidentally spilled the coffee on the legs of one of them"

"There is nothing to laugh about" Chuck blurted out. Daphne was entertained. "«_Charles is a gentlemen, Missy, I'll be forgivable. Tomorrow he'll bring you in the best restaurant of the city, he'll buy you a new dress and he'll personally accompany you to buy 2 pairs of new Louboutines. Right Charles?_» and when he didn't reply she kicked him and pouting said out loud. «_You can't be rude to Mrs. Missy, who's been working for you grandmother for 30 years!»._ You have to know Nate, that Miss Missy is 50 years old and she's the history vixen of the Foundation, but, most of all, she's a single, seeking for her golden goose".

"So.. it wasn't your old secretary, the woman who came here last night to talk to you, and who had forgottrn her skirt!" Nate was coming out of his trance.

"She's not giving me peace" Chuck was boiling. "She called me at least 10 times in an hour this morning" he was furious. "Blair's taking her revenge for the layoff.. but the great time has ended" he threatened.

Nate and Daphne cracked up.

"Man, Never play against Blair Waldorf!" Nate commented, while Chuck was still visible disturbed. The others kept on laughing.

"Please, don't stop laughing at me... And while you pull my led I…" He stood up bothered "... I'll resolve all the problems we would have avoided if someone had never involved Blair in our family business". His mot against Daphne was more than clear. He looked at her, while she composted herself.

"Those slanders were unacceptable. I've made a few calls"

"They won't get away with it" Chuck was imperative. That caught his sister's attention.

"Tell me you're not plotting something stupid Chuck"

"Send an invitation for tonight's party to Penelope and Iz. They were Blair's minions"

"Tonight we will have important international guests. What the hell do you wanna do?" Daphne sensed the danger.

"Don't get too worried, I've everything everything under control" he stopped her suddenly.

"Chuck…"

"If there are leaks in a house, they must be fixed" It was the only answer he gave her.

* * *

"Mister Daniel, Miss Blair busy"

"Dorota, can you tell her that I need to talk to her?"

"Miss Blair busy for dinner"

"5 minutes only" he insisted."

"You can go Dorota" Blair appeared on the top of the stairs in a long purple silken grown. She waited for Dorota to be gone, before descending them. "What can I do for you?" she asked him, crossing her arms around her chest.

"I haven't heard anything from you, lately... How are you?" he tried to step towards her but he immediately stopped.

"I'm on every national and international mastheads as an upstart and a slut. I couldn't be better" she replied, pretending to be indifferent, but she was cold, which was something he could sense.

"Blair, I had no idea about my colleague's article"

"Really?" She doubted it, but she didn't change the tone of the conversation.

"You think I knew?"

"I know that you did nothing to avoid it"

"You haven't been answering my calls all week... I didn't know it. You know that I'm sorry for this kind of journalism" He seemed sincere.

She nodded without changing her expression. He didn't like it. She was calm and detached, far away from him, as had happened since she had met Chuck again and his new family.

"I've read that you work with Chuck" She could feel disappointment in his voice. "I thought.."

"That we were friends, Dan?" she interrupted him. She was firmness in his voice and the way her eyes looked into his own.

"I do" he replied.

"I thought you trusted and respected me so much not to use me for an article. Friends protect and respect each other Dan".

"I did it for you!" he justified himself. " You're working for the man who sold you for a hotel, the one who took my sister's virginity and got you fired. It is for his own family that you are on every single magazine all over the world!"

"Here is, where you're wrong" she shacked her head with bitterness. "I went to Jack on my own will. Your sister knew exactly what she was doing with Chuck. Chuck got me fired, but he was also the one who helped me to find that place when no one wanted me.. And it's not because of him if the press talks about a possible cheating on Louis, because it's true.. I cheated on him, with Chuck…but he didn't forced me. I wanted to be with him that night" she was calm.

"You've been with Chuck?" he accused her.

"We're not talking about Chuck now. I trusted you and you, instead, played the count's game against him, which had destroyed me too".

"In my own article I don't even talk about you, but Chuck and the Harvey. You should stay far away from them. It's easy for them to tell the useful stories and omit the others"

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"I can't say it, but stay away from them"

"And a friend that doesn't help me is better?" she replied him back.

"You're hurting yourself Blair... You've never been over him, but I know how much you have suffered because of Chuck. You're better than that bad person you become, when he's around" Dan petrified in front of Blair's silence and the disappointed way she was looking at him. She pictured a sad smile.

"Do you wanna know what the saddest thing is? You talk about me, about him, the Harvey, but the truth is that you don't really know anyone of us" said it, she left the room.

He was losing her. He couldn't accept it.

* * *

He stood in a dodgy alley, without lights, in Brooklyn. It was 9 pm and it was already cold even if the wind was stopped by the houses that surrounded him. The floor was dirty and full of old boxes. He could smell the aromas coming from the restaurants of the closest street. The Greek food was the first he could recognize in the mix.

A car stopped at the end of the ally. A man exited and run to open the car door to another man.

They were Roman's steps. He was his father personal driver, a 65 years old man, he had grown up with. Nicholas smiled at the memory of his childhood, when his father was gone and Roman invited him home for lunch. Roast potatoes. He always cooked him roast potatoes and he gobbled up everything.

He distinguished the steps of the other man, the heavy way he placed his feet on the ground. He stared at his outline which could paralyze anyone.

"Your call surprised me, father. I thought I was clear when I said to you that you couldn't buy me" Nicholas commented before smug turning to face him, knowing to well that it would have pissed him off.

He could recognize a moment of weakness in his father's eyes for the first time in 2 years. The similarities with his beloved grandfather Hugo were striking, Nicholas thought. But his father change expression.

"I know you gave her informations"

"Why would you waste your time asking, if your sources are so legit?" he replied mocking.

His father had done the same, years before, when he had made him believe that Daphne had cheated on him. It was the bullshit that had pushed him to his limits and leaded him to destroy the most important things of his life. He would have never allowed him again.

"Boys like you, don't have nerve... You're like your mother…. principles woman. Principles are man's failure".

Nicholas felt his stomach burning. It was the same old story. His mother and him, two weak persons who didn't know anything about life.

"If I'm here just for the reprimand, you could have twitted me" His father stared at him with intensity.

Nicholas knew that gaze, it was the one he has when he was ready to make his move.

"You chose the wrong part of the field" the count commented with disappointment.

"And You are the one obsessed with this silly war" Nicholas shouted at him.

"In the Bible, a man sacrifices his son" Nicholas' heart beat faster.

The way his father talked about him and about a sacrifice, reminded him of all the times everything he had done for him was never good or enough. It had always been is personal pawn.

"I have a score to settle with the Harvey. If you'll stay with them I will have no pity for son. Choose Nicholas: stay with me and be my heiress or burn with Anna Karenina and family..."

Nicholas tightened his jaw. He had already left his home, he had been repudiated by him. Because of him he had lost the few things that had really matter to him. His mother had run away from her husband and cried every single night. He had been manipulated to disown the kid of the only woman he had ever loved, just to protect his family's reputation.

He was used to his father's evilness but every time it was like the first time, as if it was a new agonizing punch on his face. The son like the stranger. He contained the sense of oppression he felt. His mother was right, that man had never deserved them. There was no hope for him anymore.

"You told me this, two years ago. I'm not your son and frankly I'm not interested in it anymore" he spelled his answer out loud, with his head held high.

His father stared at him, waiting for the change, which he would have never begged for.

"This is the first taste of what will be out in 3 days. You could have stopped it, but you refuse father, so father now refuse son".

The count handed him a big envelope. After a last gaze, he walked back to his car.

Nicholas watched his father breaking away from him. He had never fought for him.

He rubbed his cheek with anger. He didn't deserve his tears. He didn't deserve them.

* * *

"Mrs. Jackson" Daphne welcomed her at the entrance of the Party, organized for Chuck's social introduction.

"My dear, you always look wonderful" The woman embraced her with affection.

"I'm honored by your presence"

"I would have never lost the introduction of such a charming boy" she looked at Chuck, who had just met the German ambassador.

"My pleasure" he took her hand to kiss it.

"Emily, you look fine!"

"Andrew! Look at you! You're always the same old brat! Are you taking advantage of your wife's absence?"

"You can't ask the eyes not to see" Mr. Harvey replied with a huge smile.

He was euphoric. Yes, he missed Josephine, but he was there to introduce Chuck as his own blood heiress, something that made him proud and full of life.

The woman cracked while Chuck and Daphne tried to hold back.

"You know Charles, your grandfather likes to praise women" she explained teasing him.

"It is not accident, that he married the beauty of the realm" Ernest Tripp von Justen, one of the most powerful Dutch financial businessman and long dated friend of Andrew specified reaching the group. Andrew and him attended the same college in England.

"Ernest!" Andrew was happy to see him and run to hug him.

"So Andrew, this guy must be our new heiress" Ernest looked at Chuck.

"Chuck Bass" Chuck excited showed him his hand. He was in front of one of his financial idols, as well as an unreachable person. An icon to him.

"I've read many things about you Charles! And your grandfather told me about a new ambitious project of yours"

"I'm working on a new hotel in Paris, something like 'being back in the '30'"

"Bohemian?" he asked.

"Something like that"

"I think you know Charles, that you're not a stranger to all of us" Emily spoke. "Your father had left you his legacy, but all the business world is been following your paths for years. They think you are really talented".

"Chuck's fame anticipates him" Daphne noted the surprise on his brother's face.

"No doubts that you have a unique story, as well as, that you certainly don't have an impeccable reputation, but personally, I believe that you professional goals are incredible, especially at your young age. I guess… you'll need some new solid partners if you want to conquer Europe... something I'm sure you have already planned" Ernest seemed really interested.

"The Bass owns 25 luxury resorts there, but it's my intention to give a new image to the group".

"Ernest has always had a special care for the catering" Andrew specified to Chuck. "He had always declared that if he had never been a business man, he would have been a cook. Too bad that, the one and only time he had cooked something at college, he almost burnt the entire dorm" they all laughed.

"We'll have a word later" Ernest threatened playfully his friend.

"You can pay a visit to my hotels in New York if you like. I'd be honored to listen to your opinions Mr." Chuck proposed him, understanding that it was a rare occasion and something good was in the air.

"Is tomorrow ok?" Ernest surprised him again. "And please Andrew, stay home! The last time I followed you around I had back ache for an entire week". But while everyone were shacking their head at the silly expression of Andrew, Ernest was already over it.

"Look, what a wonderful creature we have here!" Ernest made everyone's attention turn to the entrance.

Blair Waldorf was walking in, together with Cyrus and Eleanor, in a wonderful personal designed green emerald Vera Wang dress, her hair gathered up and Henry Winston's earrings. She was fascinating.

Since the moment Chuck's eyes landed on her, it was as if the room around them didn't exist. She was wearing a dress he had personally bought for her and he couldn't admit that on her, it looked exactly how he had imagined.

"Blair you're particularly attractive tonight" Mr. Harvey took her hand and kissed it, making her smile. He was always so charming and refined.

Then he turned to Eleanor "Mrs. Waldorf, what a lovely honor to have you here, and Cyrus…" both the men happily embraced each other.

"We couldn't miss this event! You have no idea how lucky you are to have such a wonderful talent like Blair with you, Andrew" Cyrus started. He was the most talented seller Andrew have ever met.

"Daphne Harvey?" Eleanor attention was on her. Even if that girl was utterly beautiful and had Chuck's eyes, she would have never said they were relative.

"I give you my grandmother's greetings, Mrs. Waldorf"

"Blair told me... I've heard that Josephine is feeling better now"

"She has to rest but she's fine, Thank you Mrs. Waldorf".

"Charles" Eleanor reclaimed his attention as he was still distracted by Blair's appearance, which was something that Eleanor had noticed.

"Eleanor... you look wonderful tonight" he tried to get closer and kiss her hand, but she surprised him. She leaned to him, almost to hold him, but close enough to whisper something in his ear.

"Do something bad to her and I swear to you, I'll set fire to your Empire. Have we understood each other?" Eleanor words made a shiver run down his back. She had been clear.

He nodded, with a tense smile.

"Set him free Eleanor" Cyrus interrupted them and walked to Chuck "How are you, boy?" and he embraced Chuck too.

It was always the same embarrassing situation. Chuck heard Daphne's laugh and felt Blair's eyes on him.

"Ernest, may I introduce you to Blair Waldorf even if I guess you already know her?" Mr. Harvey said.

"Madam, live you're even more beautiful than the pictures" Blair looked at Chuck while the man was gently kissing her hand.

Chuck looked down, while Blair was enjoying all the eyes on her.

When all the adults moved, Daphne got closer to Blair and hold her, hearing all the whispers of the other guests.

"I've heard you have a bigger closet than mine" Daphne teased her.

"I need tons of clothes now That I'm the CEO" Blair played with her.

"Tonight you have exceeded yourself".

"You think? It's just something I found in my closet" Blair minimized.

"Don't believe in anything they say. There is no competition to me" Daphne said to her, still holding her hands. In those moments Daphne reminded her of Chuck.

"I know. Thanks for the Versace's".

Right there Blair turned her gaze over Chuck who was following their interaction.

Daphne realized it, she left them alone using the guests excuse.

"You look ravishing, Waldorf" He commented, taking a full view of her body.

He had waited too long to say it again, and she liked it. He could tell it the way her cheek had flushed and how she responded to him. Even through, she was still a good girl attending a public event.

"Your refinement has always been an optional, Bass " she step closer to touch his white jacket, placing her hands on his chest.

He allowed her, following with his gaze every moves she was making. Then, he took her hand and brought it to his mouth.

"What if I have a surprise for you, Waldorf?" he announced with a smirk. A scheme. She smiled to him maliciously.

"No one knows better than you, how much I love being surprised"

She took the arm he was showing her.

**Something in the way Chuck and Blair interacted, fascinated me. It wasn't just desire, possession or passion. Those were temporary elements of a relationship. There were something deeper, stronger in the way their eyes looked for each other and communicated. It was esteem, admiration, complicity and apprehension. It was as anyone or anything around them, wasn't there.**

* * *

****First I want to Thank my beta Cry, for her precious help and support 333

Then, I want to thank for the few reviews, even the bad ones. I really appreciated them.

As for the few reviews, I only hope that who's reading this story is liking it.

I can anticipate you that the next chapter is called "kiss kiss, bang bang" ;) Get ready for Chair ;)


	9. Chapter 9

First, I want to thank all of you for your kind reviews. I'm really glad that you are still reading this story! And, Knowing that you're falling for Daphne makes me really happy and proud of her! She is a very important part of this story, and I can anticipate you that in this chapter you'll learn more about her past ;)

I hope that you're finding Chuck and Blair IC, which is something that when I write about them, is my priority .

I also want to apologize for my translation mistakes! I'm doing my best!

As suggested me, before the new Chapter you find a summery of the previous ones. I hope it's gonna help your reading ;)

* * *

**What happened in the previous chapters (1-7)**

Fate is set after episode 4x22. So, as it happened in that episode, Chuck and Blair had sex at the bm. She left with Louis because Chuck let her go. Blair thought that Dan was her best friend, but Dan had feelings for her. The only difference from the second part of the 4th season is that Serena, after finding out about Dan and Blair's betrayal between 4x12-4x19, broke up with both of them

When Fate begins, a year has passed:

- Chuck and Blair haven't seen each other for a year.

- Blair left Louis before the wedding and found a work in London

- Dan is the only friend Blair has left.

- There are a few hints about Chuck looking for her in Paris and Blair rejecting him

- Blair knows from the gossip magazines that Chuck is hanging out with Daphne Harvey. Back in NY, feeling jealous, Blair tries to destroy Daphne, believing that she's his girlfriend. Dan, who's jealous of Blair and wants to take her apart from Chuck, shows her a few pictures of Chuck and Daphne in the same place, of the period when Chuck and Blair were dating (our season 3).

Looking at the pictures and pressed by Dan's influence, Blair convinces herself that Chuck has always cheated on her and tries everything to turn Daphne down.

- Chuck on the other hand, is angry at Blair for always believing in everything against him, so he takes his revenge, getting her fired.

- Blair, who's losing her job, is offered a proposal by her boss' wife: taking down the Harvey family at the board meeting for the nominee of the new CEO, in order for Blair to keep her job. Blair accepts and tries another way to get at Daphne, who keeps on humiliating her in front of her friends.

-When Blair thinks to have found what she's looking for to destroy Daphne and the Harvey, she discovers that Daphne is Elisabeth Fisher's abandoned daughter instead. She is Chuck's sister, and their grandmother is in a hospital, fighting for life.

- So, Blair realizes that her boss was using her as a pawn in a long lasting family war: The Harvey family had always been at war against the Count Alexandrevski father of Daphne's first love, Nicholas.

- Nicholas, who had tons of things to be forgotten by Daphne, gives her an envelope with the proofs of the plot against her family, organized by his uncle, in his last attempt to have back the trust and the family legacy, his brother (the count) had stolen from him many years before. Too bad, he doesn't know that his brother is just using him for the nth time.

- After an emotional scene with Blair, Chuck is doing everything he can to stay away from her, and when he discovers that Blair is friendly to his grandmother he gets upset believing it's one of her games.

- Destroyed by Chuck refusal, Blair decides to help Daphne in her revenge against the Count's brother and her bosses. The two find out that they have tons of things in common.

- In the meantime, Chuck's grandfather tells him the story of his mother. She had history with Nicholas' father and she scarified her entire family in the love of that man. Chuck feels guilty when he understands that his revenge over Blair has taken him too far.

- Blair gets angry at Chuck when she discovers that he procured her the job at the magazine and that a few weeks before he had asked her firing because he was mad at her.

-With Daphne's and Josephine Harvey's help, Blair is nominated CEO of one of the Harvey's company. Even if she has to work with Chuck every day, she feels powerful again. Plus it's the perfect opportunity for her to take a good revenge on the Great Chuck Bass, making fun of him in front of the Harvey's employees.

- When Blair's past and insecurities are used from the Harvey's enemy against them, throwing them on every newspaper, both Chuck and Serena feel the need to help her. At the same time, Blair thinks about them, and how much they were important in her life.

**List of the new character's name**

Dafne Ginevra Harvey: Chuck's sister

Josephine Victoria Harvey: the grandmother

Andrew Bradley Harvey: the grandfather

John Stephen Harvey. Chuck and Daphne's uncle

Nicholas Dorian Petrovic Alexandrevski: Daphne's first love

Conte Ivan Petrovic Alexandrevski : Nicholas's father

* * *

**Chapter nine:**

**Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang**

**Until the worst drama overturned my life, I was just like Blair: spoiled, fussy and capricious. I was the one who ruled, the one who broke the law, the one surrounded by minions ready to do everything to be part of my elite. I plotted, took revenge and claimed at my position. People feared me, and I liked it. But things changed. Time kept me from keeping on living in my own selfishness. I grew up and, in some kind of ways, whenever I look back at my past, I feel ashamed of the things I've done.**

"How do you feel sweetheart?" her grandfather reached her, holding two glasses of champagne.

"You shouldn't drink it" she reminded him without any kind of despotic or authoritative tones. Instead, she sounded amused by the freedom he was used to take when his wife and his son weren't around.

"This?" he raised his glass with a smirk on his face. "Your health my dear!" he exclaimed with satisfaction.

Daphne shook her head and smiled.

She adored him, she couldn't imagine a life without him in it. She lowered her gaze to her own glasses.

"Do you remember when I was a child and I kept on asking you of a baby brother?"

"You used to cry because all of your school friends had brothers or sisters while you didn't". He said sipping slowly at his champagne.

"Yes, and every single time you came back home with a new dog!" She laughed at that memory.

"Your grandmother wasn't pleased about it" he commented sarcastically. One night, he even risked to sleep in the landing.

"Of course, we reached the number of 20 dogs in a month!" That thing still entertained her. They soundly cracked into laugh, not caring about the room which had turned to look at them with curiosity.

"Only yesterday, you were my little baby who drove to distraction her nannies just to dress matching with your grandma..." Daphne had bright eyes. "Look at yourself now... you're the most lovable creature I've ever seen... I'm really proud of the woman you're becoming. Don't forget it!"

Daphne lowered her gaze shyly and took his hands in hers.

"I have a brother now!" she commented, making fun of Fate and softening all the emotions which used to hit her whenever her grandfather was speaking directly to her heart.

"It's a pity that your grandmother isn't here... It's such an important moment for Charles... He'll do great things, I can feel it" he stated, looking at the guests who had come there to meet his male heiress.

"He will... He'll make you very proud of him" Daphne agreed.

Mr. Harvey didn't reply but kissed the back of her hand. It was the most respectful and loving sign from a grandfather to the most important creature of his life.

* * *

"Serena, how was the premiere in LA?"

"It went very good, Penelope!" she handed her a glass of champagne. They had decided to sit in a private sitting room.

* * *

"What's happening?" Blair asked to Chuck, who was leading her to stand behind an half closed door.

"I'm showing you your surprise!" he maliciously smirked inviting her to take a look inside the room.

* * *

"I've heard that you're working for a notary" Serena said, making herself visible to Blair.

"Yes, and I'm engaged!" she happily yelled, showing them the ring on her finger.

* * *

"What is Serena doing with them?" Blair sounded confused.

"The hook" Chuck leaned close to whisper in her ear. They couldn't make noises. Blair had to hold her breath at the contact.

* * *

"It's Incredible!" Serena spoke "You're going to get married before Blair!"

"The way she left the prince on the altar is unforgettable" Isabel sneered.

"I've heard that you two aren't on good terms anymore" Penelope said to the blonde.

"You've heard right" Serena pretended to be quite.

"Being with Dan Humphrey... there's nothing lower than that, but the sewer" Penelope commented acidly. There was pity in his voice.

Isabel elbowed her.

"Ops, Serena! I'm sorry! I didn't intent to..." Penelope corrected herself, remembering that Serena had dated Dan too. "Besides... Considering that you're with Jonathan Rhys Meyer now, everyone else was just a mistake. Do you yell me, is it true that Jude Law plucks himself?" she asked Serena turning into the gossipy mood. Serena smiled embarrassed.

"I suppose so. By the way, why talking about me Penelope?" Serena suddenly changed the subject

"You're getting married! Who's the lucky one? Don't tell me he's a prince too?" It was where she wanted to go with her conversation.

"Actually, a duke!" Penelope replied with dreamy eyes. "We'll celebrate the wedding in his Scottish castle"

* * *

"I hope that she'll fall from a cliff the day before" Blair angrily commented, following the scene in front of her.

"Too fast" Chuck replied. "I'd enjoy more a slowly humiliating punishments" he whispered in her ear.

He was all over her, with his hands on her waist, his body pressed against her. She could feel his breath on her neck. He was going to kill her with his perfume.

* * *

"Let's hope that you won't run away from the altar_!_" Serena's voice gave Blair the strength to focus all her mind, back on her mission.

"Well even if nowadays it's a style, I'm not Blair Waldorf..." Penelope admonished Serena's provocation. "Plus, unlike her, I know how to hold my golden goose. Apparently she can't stop but losing her panties whenever Chuck is around" Penelope finished.

Isabel bursted in a laugh.

* * *

At that exit Blair tried to open the door with fury, but Chuck held her motionless.

"Wait" he suggested her. His scent distracted her for a moment. He was too close.

* * *

"She's on every magazine... Poor Blair... From the stars, to the stables. But, how do you know it?" Serena started her game, giving her another glass of champagne.

"Penelope met a few journalists" Isabel blurted out in a confidential tone, anticipating the other one.

"I told you to shut up!" Penelope scolded Isabel with an ice gaze.

"Is it true?" Serena interrupted their little fight.

"Last Wednesday I met a journalist who was going to write an article about my wedding, and he asked me if I knew a certain Blair Waldorf"

"And you?"

"I've told him a few things... but who cares anymore? She lost the her train, many years ago!" she sneered.

"She told him…" Isabel stared without letting Penelope finish her sentence "…That her boyfriend, who's a close friend of Louis, knew that Blair had cheated on him"

"Really?" Serena pretended to be surprised.

"Louis made a few research and found out that, while he was waiting for her at their engagement party, she was with Chuck at the Plaza. Sources confirmed him that they locked themselves in a closet for at least half an hour" Penelope explained.

"Did you tell the journalist the whole story?"

"Of course not! I've just told him about the cheating, so that they can contact me again for all the details!" Penelope looked proud of herself.

* * *

"Do you remember when we played the '_fake-drunk and embarrass game'_ with dorky girls we met at the bar?" Chuck asked Blair. He had heard enough idiocies coming out of Penelope's mouth.

"Are you referring to the times when we pretended to be drunk and have sex in public to embarrass them?" Blair asked, stunned by both his proposition and Penelope's evilness.

"You enjoyed watching them running away in shock..." he commented with deep low voice. "Don't tell me that you don't wanna unwrap your gift!" he added to have her in.

She knew the risks of playing that game with him. His mouth on her ear had been enough to prevent her mind from working. She would have not survived to that kind of physical contact.

On the other hand, however, demolishing Penelope could be worth the risk. Chuck's proposal came together with something really humiliating for their grip. She just had to play his game and trust him.

"Don't get too excited Bass. For the record, I accept just because of Penelope..." She turned to watch him in the eyes. He was even closer than she had thought. She held her breath.

"What else could it be?" he asked with his mouth just a few cm away from hers.

They deeply stared at each other. They could feel the electricity between them.

"It's just a scheme" she specified to him, taking the distance to adjust her dress.

"Absolutely" he agreed, trying to convince himself that it was just one of their games. Without looking at her he closed his jacket.

"And I'll be the one on top" she stated with an authoritative tone.

"Anything you desire" Chuck darken eyes couldn't help but enjoying her proposal.

Blair avoided his gaze and pushed him against the door.

She had everything under control she repeated to herself.

* * *

"Well… we know tons of things about Blair" Isabel was still talking.

"Have you any idea of what could happened if they knew that she had sex with Chuck's uncle too?" Penelope was making fun of Blair without embarrassment.

A noise interrupted them. Someone had hit the door.

It suddenly became clear to them, that a couple was pulling at each other against the door. Penelope, Isabel and Serena could hear their moans from inside. And then, a few seconds later, the door opened and a very drunk Blair Waldorf was pushing Chuck Bass in the room, with her hands on his chest, staring at him with dark and desiring eyes.

Penelope, Isabel and Serena exchanged a stunned gaze.

Blair brought Chuck's shirt collar and yearning kissed him, meeting the same intensity in his lips.

Chuck's hands travelled up her legs, slowly raising her long green dress, making her tremble under his touch.

Serena coughed to summon their attention, but she had to call them back at least a few times before they stopped.

Penelope had a disgusted expression pictured on her face, while Isabel was utterly astonished.

"Oh look, here we have Penelope! What a wonderful surprise!" Blair greeted her, focusing on the room and letting go the hold on Chuck's collar. When she took a few steps away from him, he could turn toward the other guests too.

"Chuck... Blair..." Penelope greeted them, verifying that they were both quite drunk at Chuck's introduction party.

"We thought that the room was empty" Blair explained to the 3 women in front of her, but reaching Chuck's hand to get close to him again. She felt her legs weak after their fake make up. If she'd not leaned on him she'd have fallen on the floor.

"Actually I've always loved wanton things..." Chuck commented, tossing her on him and kissing her neck in front of all of them "They make everything more exciting…".

Blair, who was enjoying the way their schemes was working, allowed him do what he had to, even if his hands and his lips on her body were too tempting to be indifferent.

He was intoxicating her. The way they had kissed each other just a few minutes before had given her goose fleshes and shivers all over her body.

It was just a scheme, she tried to remind herself while his tongue was working behind her ear.

"It wouldn't be the first time!" she accepted maliciously, imaging what the ones in front of them could have guessed.

She brought his bowtie again and leaned closer to bite his ear, before going down his neck, to reach his favourite spot.

Penelope and Isabel made an horrified expression.

"I think it's better if we leave" Isabel suggested.

"No! We won't!" Serena stopped her pretending to be pissed. "We arrived here first, they'll find another room"

"Come on sis... stop playing the saint... you can join us of you like" Chuck invited her, touching Blair's hairs.

"You're a cad Chuck! We're having a conversation here" Serena replied. Blair puffed and broke away from him.

"She's right Chuck..." Blair imitated Serena's tone of voice. "We should sit with them" Blair threw him an agreement look. He pretended to be bored, letting her leading him to the sofa.

"Do you mind, Penelope?" Blair showed her the empty space next to her. Without waiting for her answer, she pushed Chuck on the sofa and sat on his legs.

Penelope stood up astonished. She had never seen them like this. Never.

"You know, Penelope, when Chuck is around I feel the uncontrollable desire to get rid of my panties. It's stronger than me!" Blair quoted her, stopping kissing Chuck to face her with an evil smile.

Penelope stood motionless.

They had heard everything. They had heard that she had talked about her to the press. Penelope's pale face gave Blair the glimmer to end the play and enjoy the consequences.

"Did you really think to be able to swindle me so easily Penelope?" Blair stood up from Chuck and adjusted her dress.

"Blair I..."

Blair stepped toward her. With her vindictive glow, she looked taller, stronger, and more invincible than ever. Penelope stood back.

"You… What? Do you seriously believed that Serena was here to make you right? How many times do I have to tell Penelope? Gooses like you, don't even know what a pond is!"

Penelope glanced down, while Chuck was taking a comfortable position on the sofa to have a better view of the scene.

"And, let me give you a tip. Find a good wig for your engagement pictures" Blair suggested her with calmness.

"Why should I?" Penelope asked confused.

"You've something on your hairs, just right there" Chuck advised her, standing up next to Blair.

Penelope understood terrified. She knew that game, she had done it many time to their enemies, under their guide lines. Touching her head she realized that she was losing hair locks.

They had put the liquid in the champagne that Serena had kept on giving to her.

After a moment of shock, Penelope run toward the door, crying and touching her hair.

"Buy a curly wig, it'll cover your eggs head" Blair shouted back to her.

"The bathroom is on the left". It was the last thing that Penelope heard. It came from Chuck's mouth.

* * *

"Miss Harvey, there's a lady who's yelling in the ladies room" A waiter informed her.

"Does anyone know her?"

"A girl is trying to calm her down, but she can't... the lady's cursing at you brother and Miss Waldorf. She said she wants to struggle them"

"I understand... call the security, they'll check on her". The waiter nodded but didn't move. He was embarrassed. He didn't know how to explain the rest.

"Is there something else, right?" Daphne sensed it.

"What do we do with the locks she lost on the carpet of the central alley?"

Daphne paled like a statue. She forced herself to count 1 to 1000, because she could only imagine what had happened to her.

"Do you know the girl's name?" she asked.

"Penelope". It was exactly as she had thought.

"Please, clean the carpet. The guests and my grandfather don't have to know anything. I'll take care of the girl"

She, herself, would have struggled her brother!

* * *

"She deserved this lesson" Chuck commented, sipping at his scotch.

"I can't still believe that she told the journalist all those idiocies" Serena said, sitting in front of Chuck.

"I can. She's always been dopiest then chickens" Blair felt relief for the first time in days.

"Do you think she'll scare the guests?" Serena asked, a little worried about it.

"When I cut her hair to test on her a new haircut she changed school for a semester! Without her hair, she'll run in the farthest country to buy a wig. Believe me!" Blair remembered and Chuck nodded in agreement with his personal smirk.

They exchanged a complicity look and the silence fell in the room.

What happened a few minutes before was still in the air. So much time had passed but nothing had changed between them. It was just a matter of a second, of a wrong move to start all over again.

Serena coughed, leading Chuck to lower his gaze from Blair's eyes. There were too many insuperable obstacles, he reminded himself.

"I guess I've been away from the party for too long". He quickly stood up and adjusted the jacket that Blair had opened.

"They must be looking for you" Blair agreed, nervously standing up too. When she realized the mess she had made on him, she got closer and started to comb his hair, as if it was something she did every single day.

He stood blank to fix her moves. The memory of what they had done just a few minutes before came back to his mind: the natural way they had twisted on each other, the synchrony in understanding each other without speaking, their hands everywhere... Everything was in their eyes while she was helping him with is bowtie. She tried to avoid the eyes contact.

"You can go now" she said, smiling satisfied at the result. She raised her gaze on him and conceded him a tiny smile.

He couldn't resist. He leaned closer to place a soft kiss on her cheek, taking her by surprise for the tenderness and the innocence of his act.

"I didn't say that I've forgiven you, Bass" she teased him, not ready to let him go just yet.

He smirked.

"Thank God, I should have found a new way to piss you off... You know how much I adore when you're angry at me" He took a rebel rock of hers in his hand and placed it behind her ear, before breaking away and leaving the room.

Blair stood breathless 'till he was out of the room. When she moved, Serena was right beside her.

"Miss Waldorf" Valentina's voice interrupted whatever was starting between them. "Mr. Harvey asked about you. He's waiting in the saloon"

"Tell him I'll be there immediately" she replied before looking at Serena with resignation.

"Thank you for what you've done"

"You're welcome" Serena didn't know what to do. Valentina was still on the door, waiting for Blair.

"I think you should go"

* * *

The party was a success. Daphne and Charles had been introduced as siblings while the paparazzi were immortalizing all the family members and the guests.

Blair had her moment too. She didn't expect to be mentioned in the grandfather's speech, and much less, the clapping which had followed her presentation.

It had been a magical night. Andrew Harvey was so happy to show to all of his friends, the male heiress he had always dreamed about, since his son, John, had always preferred the medical career to the family business.

For the first time, since he had lost Elisabeth, he felt alive, happy, ready to party like a teenager.

He was sitting in the living room, speaking with Nate's grandfather and a few other old friends, when a security man called him.

"If you could excuse me.." he had apologized to his guests to be able to hear what the man had to say.

"There's a person who wants to talk to you"

"I suppose it's not on the list, if you're here to ask me"

"No he isn't. But he says it's about your nephew and it's quite urgent" Mr. Harvey went white.

He didn't hesitate a second. He allowed the man, to walk him street to the room where the security had placed this person. When they opened the door everything became clear.

The man sat in front of a table. He had red eyes, open clothes and the head held low.

"Nicholas" the grandfather wasn't surprised to find him there.

**Nicholas had always had a disastrous relationship with his father. His bad companies, his vices, his perditions caused continuous fights between them. While his mother adored him, his father ignored him most of the times. He only got interested in his son's life whenever he had to propose him business deals or he had to tell him he was a failure of a son. Later, I found out that ever since Nicholas was a child, when his father was drunk, he used to hit him. Maybe it was one of the many reasons that leaded me in Nicholas' net. I loved his fragilities, his need of affection, the way his rare smiles made me feel loved, his one and only. But the time made it clear that I had deceived myself. I couldn't help him, I couldn't fill or replace the lacks of his past. His father had built in him the morbid obsession to be wanted by him, to please him in order to be accepted by him. That obsession killed us both.**

"Why are we on the family helicopter?" Blair asked, still unaware about the situation, while the helicopter was slowly raising from the ground.

"The grandfather said that we have to be in the Hampton as soon as possible. I don't know anything else" Chuck replied.

"Did something happen to Josephine? ... You're uncle said she was getting better..."

"The grandma is fine. I called her when we were leaving the party. I don't know what happened but it's not about her" Daphne reassured Blair, staring at the lightened city outside of the window.

Blair took a relief breath and sat comfortable on the seat.

"It's been a wonderful evening! You should be happy about it" Blair commented looking at Chuck who was sitting next to her and in front of Daphne. They both shared an embarrassed gaze.

"Beautiful..." Daphne pointed out, taken by her thoughts. "The best part, in my personal opinion, has been when I had to sign a 3 million dollar check to let the flora bloom again on your friend Penelope's head" She finally turned her eyes on them. She was really angry.

Chuck and Blair were motionless in front of her exit. They didn't expect it.

"It's not what you think" Blair spoke, waking up from the moment of surprise.

"We can explain" Chuck finished in synchronous, but Daphne's expression was enough to prevent them from saying something more.

"Have you any kind of idea of the risk you've taken?"

"You're exaggerating... She'll run home crying like a baby, but she won't tell anyone" Chuck minimized, while Blair was nodding in agreement.

"So, do you tell me? What she was doing in the bathroom next to the saloon full of guests, shouting, after leaving locks of her hairs all over the central alley, making such a scene to scare the waiters and the security?"

Chuck lowered his gaze and Blair shacked her head.

"I've always said that she's an idiot" Blair commented acidly.

"You're the Ceo of one of the most important society of the planet, how can you still act as you were 13 years old?" Daphne scolded them.

"Come one, Daphne, you know she was the one who told all those bullshits to the press!" Chuck justified his act.

"I find it a good reason to put all of us in embarrassment" Daphne wasn't backing down on her opinion.

"We had to stop her... She was going to spilt that.. " Blair stopped before finishing the sentence. Chuck didn't speak, knowing exactly what she was going to say.

"That you've slept together while you were with Louis?" Daphne asked them and floored them. Blair lowered her gaze.

"How do you know it?" His brother asked.

"Maybe Louis wasn't a genius, but we're not all living on Mars"

"So, you understand that it was necessary" Blair replied immediately. Chuck nodded.

"Blair, It's not high school anymore. If, at that time, a mistake caused you a suspension, here it'll cost your reputation, and then it'll affect the respect of our family name, and the reputation of the company, followed by the stocks, the markets, the employers etc..."

"Don't be too melodramatic, Daphne. What do you think that someone like Penelope can do?" Chuck showed his security.

"For the moment she had pocketed a 3 million dollar check"

"The next time we'll pay more attention" Blair was bored by Daphne's good telling off.

"There won't be a next time if you wanna stay where you are" Daphne specified.

"What are you talking about?" Chuck and Blair were taken by surprise again.

"I was ready to leave you the majority of my family shares, and the part of the legacy I'll receive with the exit of the grandfather. I don't wanna be part of this system anymore, and I want to honour your presence in the family business, Chuck. But if you'll do something stupid one more time, I'll take my shares and I'll become an owl on your shoulder 'till death will tear us apart"

"I don't think you can do it" Blair took Chuck's defense.

"Are you sure Blair?" Daphne provoked her.

"If the problem is the check, I'll pay you back" Chuck cut the conversation.

"I don't care about the money. I just want to know that you won't do something stupid anymore, especially in public. I didn't just pay Penelope, I had to deal with a paparazzo who took pictures of you from a window"

Chuck and Blair opened their eyes wide.

"What do you exactly mean with the verb 'deal'?" Chuck seemed worried, looking Blair with the corner of his eye. She was taking a physical distance from him on the seat, almost to prepare herself for what was going to happen.

"It means that I had to give him half of the scoop to hide a possible Penelope's scandal"

"And what part of the scoop did you give to him?" Blair asked, even if she already knew the answer.

"The one when you clanged to each other like octopus" Daphne explained with no regrets.

"What?" They yelled together.

"Have you lost your mind? I can't end up on a magazine, clanged to your brother, especially after what they've written about me!" Blair was getting anxious. "About us!" she specified, pointing at Chuck with her hand.

"This is going to ruin our reputations! I can't believe you have been so unprepared!" Chuck accused his sister. "I'm sure that if we raise up the sum, we can avoid this mess" Chuck was talking on Blair's voice.

"If that's what you want… I can call him right now" Daphne was utterly enjoying the scene in front of them. "Penelope's scandal or the two of you making up in a room... there's no other choices Chuck"

"Are you kidding! I'm not going to end up on every cover magazine while I'm rubbing on his body" Blair was obstinate, sitting close to the window and glaring at him. It was all his fault. It was always his fault!

"I totally agree" Chuck nodded, satisfied by the distance she was putting between them in that little space on the helicopter. He knew that their game was dangerous. He had been an idiot to propose it.

"The choice is yours...I guess a one-night-stand gossip couldn't be so dangerous for you, compared to the rest. If I'm not mistaken, you have been together previously…" Daphne specified.

Chuck and Blair stared at her, trying to analyze all the circumstances.

"What are we going to say to your grandparents?" Blair wondered in discomfort. She could have expected everything but not the nth collapse of her name. Her ex and her, the one she had cheated her boyfriend with, on every paper in unequivocal acts.

"Nothing about Penelope. As for the rest, find the excuse you prefer the most. Something tells me, that they won't take it as bad as you"

* * *

The grandmother sat on the sofa in the living room. She had a grave gaze. Uncle John was reading what looked like a magazine.

"The guys are here"

Josephine raised her head to watch the 3 of them walking in the room.

It was a matter of a second before they could catch the atmosphere.

Chuck and Blair became anxious. Did they already know about what happened at the party?

"We need to talk" Mr. Harvey came in the room from his lateral study. He seemed worried and nervous.

Chuck and Blair exchanged a look of tension.

"If it's about the party… We can explain…" Chuck said, sitting on the sofa, as his grandma had suggested them. He felt like a child, found with his hands in the chocolate shelves.

It was then, that his uncle handed him the magazine.

Chuck got stunned. The problem was way more serious.

On the cover, a big hold picture of Nicholas and Daphne embraced to each other, was followed by an even more dreadful title: 'The clandestine son'. It was a very cold shower.

He didn't expect that the Count could sell his son's pain and Daphne's sorrow for revenge. He tried to hold the paper in his hands to keep Daphne from reading it, but she took it with strength and fixed it, frightened to death.

On Daphne's face a mix of emotions passed. Anger, sufferance, panic, fragility, incapability to understand. Her hands were trembling while her heart was beating fast. The silence of the room allowed her beating to become the only listenable noise.

No one moved or talked.

Blair was following everything with attention. She didn't know anything, but Daphne's reaction to the piece of magazine in her hand, was enough to explain to her that if it was the Count's move, he had hit where they all hurt the most.

She had always seen Daphne as a strong person, full of security but always smiling. It was as what she had read had just torn her to pieces and covered the whole room in blood. However, she could only imagine what it could have been, after all Dan's information.

Even though she had tons of questions, it was not the time. All the answers would have come at the right time.

"He had been banished for good" Mr. Harvey informed Daphne, with softness. It seemed that he was talking to a flower.

Those words were enough. Daphne placed her hands on her cheeks to stop the tears from falling. It followed a moment of silence, then a deep breath.

"Where is he?" She placed the magazine on Blair's leg.

"In my study" her grandfather replied.

The only thing Blair could think about, was how strong Daphne was. Her strength lightened her.

She watched her standing up with her head held high, ignoring the ones in the room, who were staring at her, and walked to the study.

Then the silence fell in the all room again. It was as everyone there was facing the same sorrow, living the same drama.

Blair hadn't the courage to read more than the cover. It was invading her eyes and her heart. "_The clandestine son_" signed by Daniel Humphrey.

She couldn't stay there anymore. She walked to the balcony. She needed fresh air.

* * *

"I owe you the truth" Chuck was there, behind her.

There was a 4 meters long distance between them but the way his eyes were looking at her, made her feel closer. She decided to keep on watching outside of the window.

"I've heard that she had a relationship with Nicholas… I've heard something about a baby too..." Blair started the conversation without judgmental tones, just explaining to him what she did know.

Chuck stared at her, from the back, before glancing down at the floor, leaning on the doorframe. He had to start form the very beginning, he couldn't create new misunderstanding.

"I was 15 when I first met Daphne. We were in Prague, in an old bank caveaux"

Blair finally turned to look at him. He had his hands in his pockets and crossed legs.

He smirked, transported by the memories, even if he was still looking at the floor.

"Nicholas and I made a bet on who was going to deflower her. She was like a fish out of the water in that place… our perfect lamb...but we both failed" he admitted.

"Didn't you try again?" Blair asked almost pissed by the attraction he had felt, in some kind of ways, toward that beautiful girl.

"I did it, but she made it pretty clear where I had to go" He smiled. Blair felt some sort of relief.

"That's the reason why you've always respected her. Right?" Blair stated, leading him to lay his eyes on her. She knew him better.

"There was something different in her... not like you... just different..." he specified thinking back at those days.

Not like you. 3 words that made Blair blush. It was the first time he was opening to her.

"I've never been with Daphne" he stated looking straight into her eyes. He was desperately wishing that she could believe in him because it was the truth.

"I'm sorry for ever doubting it...I..." she lowered her gaze from him in embarrassment. She had been wrong because of her insatiable jealousy, quoting a sentence he had said many years before.

"I know" he anticipated her. In spite of all, even if he had suffered for her behavior, he knew exactly why she had believed it. He knew it, as well as he knew, that it was his fault too.

"Your grandparents didn't want that relationship due to what happened to Elisabeth years before, right?" Blair asked, too clever not to quickly understand the story.

"Nicholas and I, are similar... No one compost mentis parent would want us next to the beloved daughter" Chuck said, showing a melancholic resignation in his gaze. Blair noticed it. Their story was so similar to Daphne and Nicholas's one that the borderline was too tiny to be passed.

"You're not that man anymore, since long time now, Chuck" Blair felt the need to reassure him. She made a step toward him, following her instinct. She wanted him to realize that he was wrong, that he was the man his father never was. She was ready to shout it, if necessary.

However, Chuck prevented her from reaching him. He walked to the bar to put the distance.

Blair's eyes filled with sadness but followed his moves. He was pouring the Martini with ice and an olive in two glasses. She could sense his anxiety.

"At the beginning, they didn't do anything. They knew that she secretly hanged out with him, as well as that he was surrounded by bad companies..."

"They didn't want to commit the same mistakes" Blair grasped, taking the glass he was handing to her, before sitting on the chair and crossing her legs. Chuck did the same, sitting on the sofa in front of her.

"When the Count found out about their relationship, he disinherited Nicholas. So, he moved in his mother's old family house. He couldn't accept that drama. He got crazy and pushed Daphne away in any possible ways. He cheated on her, he broke her and humiliated her at every possible chance..." Chuck couldn't look in Blair's eyes anymore.

She could understand what Daphne had been through. She knew it, because she had lived it on her own skin, because of Chuck, with Chuck.

That moment of tension, made Chuck stand up and walk to the big desk behind the sofa.

"I've always wondered why, after everything he did to her, she could come back to him every single time… why she couldn't stay away from him. How she could believe in him after everything they've been through..."

From his position Chuck couldn't see the tear which had poured down Blair's cheek, but he could feel her eyes on his back. In the silence of the room he could listen to her breathing.

"Because she loved him..." She replied in a sweet tone of voice.

He stiffened. That tiny line always brought them back to speak about their own past, instead of just Nicholas and Daphne's one. It was becoming un-managable.

"She got pregnant" there was anger in his words, as he was accusing Nicholas, one of his closest friends, or he was protecting his own sister.

Blair paled, a light sense of vomit built in her stomach. She nervously started to play with her hands.

Chuck turned to look at her. His gaze was dark and hard. It turned her stomach.

"Nicholas's father decided to use that card to reconcile with him. He convinced him that Daphne had conceived that baby with his cousin, who was just a good friend of her, instead. Nicholas knew that he had never touched Daphne, but a missed call on her phone and two malicious pictures were a good reason to believe in his father's bullshits"

Blair could see it in Chuck's eyes, his disgust toward Nicholas and Daphne's sufferance.

It had been the biggest betrayal. She had been abandoned with a baby in her belly. Abandoned and accused of cheating. Denigrated. Humiliated by the man she loved. Her one and only. The one she had loved in the good and the bad moments.

"Is this the reason why the baby died?" she invited him to continue with the story.

"Nicholas didn't talk to her anymore and treated her like one of his random sluts. Daphne had a terrible period. She was forced in bed all the pregnancy long. She didn't' eat for weeks, she frequently lost blood. She was underweight and felt always pains. The pictures Dan gave you…. I was helping her. She wanted to contact him… I tried everything to make him reflect, but he didn't listen…"

Blair had a knot in her throat. She had been wrong on everything. She couldn't stop but staring at Chuck with watery eyes.

In spite of all, she understood Daphne more than she could have wished. The sorrow she was reading in Chuck's eyes destabilized her. She couldn't bare it.

"She was forced to give birth in another country. She had complications. The baby didn't cry, so they broke her away from him and he went to surgery. He died after two hours. She had never seen that baby but they obliged her to sign a paper where she bound herself to the silence about its existence" Chuck voice was broken and disgusted. "They didn't show her, her own baby. Can you believe it?" he asked Blair, with watery eyes.

The knot in her throat became so big that she couldn't breathe.

"Do you want to know the irony of the story? It was in that very moment, that Nicholas realized that she had never cheated on him and that it was just one of his father's games to take Daphne away from him" His comment was scornful.

Blair's head whirlpulled. She had heard too much. She had understood too much.

The unconditional love Daphne had for the humanitarian missions by orphanages. The passionate and suffered work in children hospitals. She had put them on the first place in the Foundation activities. The constant collaboration with the social assistants and the adoption centers.

Right there, Blair could understand why Daphne was so braked to speak about her past. She could see where her passion, her courage, her determination, her hope came all from. They had stepped on her, destroyed her, but they had not wiped her out. She was more mature than all of them. She knew what life can give you in the darkest and most difficult moments. She knew how to pick the shades.

Blair stared at Chuck who was fixing the wall in front of him

If only he had known... if only he had seen her deep into her chore... She wouldn't have been so different in his eyes anymore.

* * *

They were all gone. Not that he hadn't had fun with the German princess, who had assaulted him, but all of his friends, after the public announcement, were nowhere to be found.

Not to talk about his grandfather, who had publicly announced his future candidacy for the position of new governor, in front of all the UES. As if he really cared about the political advocacy of his family.

After his brief experience by the lord major office, the political elections were his last thought.

Chuck was right, 3 were the important things of life: money, girls and good friends.

So, Chuck gone, Serena nowhere to be seen, far away from Blair and sad for missing Daphne, he went to Dan for a beer. After a few shoots at the basket and Dan's omelet, he was coming back home.

When he walked out of the elevator, he found her there, cuddled on herself in the darkness of the living room, unaware about his presence.

"Ehi, you were all gone" he started, guessing that she was just taken with her thoughts. He received no answers, she was in trance.

"Daphne" he called her with a soft voice and a pinch of worry.

"Chuck told me to stay here. In a few days many people will be looking for me" She replied without pauses and expressivity, still staring in front of her. It was as no one was there with her.

Nate reached the living room lamp and turned it on.

She was wearing a large tracksuit, her hair were falling down her shoulders and her cheeks were signed by the tears. She was cuddling with her legs against her chest, like a child, almost to defend herself, or close herself in a shell. Her nose was red and he could read emptiness in her eyes.

Nate swallowed. Watching her like that, made him sad. He got closer and sat next to her.

"Do you want..?" he asked her with softness. He was used to Chuck's silence and extreme reactions, but the female versions of Chuck Bass, hindered him.

"I don't wanna talk" She replied while the nth tear was pouring down her cheek.

"So don't do it" Nate places his hand on her shoulder to bring her close. He felt the urge to protect her. He wanted to protect her.

Daphne didn't react. She allowed him, defenseless, to hold her close, while she was sobbing.

* * *

"Blair, what are you doing here?" Serena asked opening the door of her bedroom.

"Do I disturb you?" Blair asked ashamed.

It had been a year since they had stopped talking to each other, but that night, things were so desperate that she had finally found the courage to come back to her best friend.

"No, you don't" Serena assured her. "It's just... I didn't expected you here"

"I just wanted to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's..." Blair was avoiding the subject. She lowered her gaze. She had to say the truth. "Many things happened and the only thing I really need now, is to hold my best friend and stop thinking about the rest"

Something in Blair's speech, woke Serena up. Without hesitation she leaned closer and embraced her.

"B... I was so wrong about you... I've missed you so much" she confessed her best friend, holding her tight to her.

"Me too, S!" Blair closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of home she was feeling. The weight on her stomach of what had happened before was slowly fading away. She broke the hug to watch Serena in the eyes.

"I'm really sorry about Dan... Maybe I was wrong not to tell you..." Blair admitted.

"And I'm sorry for not believing you. I've been such an idiot! Could you forgive me B?" That exit made Blair happily breath for the first time in a year.

"I don't know Serena... I should think about it" Blair played with her, walking in her room.

"I promise that I'll watch all Audrey Hepburn's movies with you" Serena proposed.

"It's a good start" Blair replied before they both cracked into a good laugh and hugged each other again.

"Promise me, that, whatever is going to happen, we won't leave each other anymore"

"Anymore" Blair agreed.

She would have never hurt or let Serena anymore. She had learned the lesson.

**One day Chuck asked me what I believed that happiness was... I suppose we were 16, and at that time, to me, happiness meant being with Nicholas and staying at least 5 minutes a day with him. It's strange how the meanings change as time goes by. Today, to me, happiness is waking up in the morning, opening my eyes and knowing that the person I care the most about, are still there with me.**

* * *

Thanks again!

And a special thanks goes to CryWilliams for her help! 33


	10. Chapter 10

Thank you so much for your reviews, I really appreciate them! I know that what happened to Daphne is shocking, but I think it explains why she is such a wise and strong character! As people say, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!

I have 5 chapters left + the epilogue and a one shot! And get ready for Elisabeth because she's coming back in a few chapters. I can tell you that she's the last new character of the next 5 chapters!

As always, Thank you Cry for your help!

**Previously:**

Chuck and Serena scheme together against Penelope, who has told the press about Chuck and Blair night at the bm (4x22). Chuck and Blair take revenge on her, playing the _fake-drunk and embarrass game __at the Harvey's party. Even if it's just a game, all the touching and the kisses show Chuck and Blair how much they are still connected to each other_

However, Daphne has to pay Penelope's silence to avoid a public scandal. She also informs Chuck and Blair that the pictures of their fake sex game are going to be published on every magazine.

Chuck, Blair and Daphne leave the party because something terrible has happened: Dan Humphrey and the Count have written an article about the baby Daphne has lost and her clandestine love story with Nicholas.

Is Chuck, who tells Blair that Daphne has been forced to hide both her pregnancy and the death of her baby because Nicholas believed in his father's lies against her.

Daphne stays at The Empire to avoid the press. Nate finds her there and comforts her.

Destroyed by all the revelations of the night, Blair finally finds the courage to apologize to Serena.

**Chapter 10:**

**DENIAL**

**I fought with all of my strength not to sign that contract, not to pretend that my baby had never been a part of me. I fought to be able to walk with my head held high and start over. In that moment, with the coming out of the article about the past I was hiding, for the first time in years, everyone found out about my story.**

**Too bad it portrayed my life as one of those media bullshits written for a never ending audience-war. I couldn't bare it, the way my baby was coming to the world for the second time. It was a means of exchange to state who was the winner and who was the loser of the conflict.**

**I was shocked. It was my son, my pain, the death of my future, they were talking about. And, while the world was judging me without even trying to understand my sorrow, the press was becoming obsessed about Chuck and Blair's passion. I felt walked on for the nth time.**

"Nate?" Dan called him out, walking out of the elevator of Chuck's suite at the Empire .

That morning had been a mess. His article was everywhere and everyone wanted to talk to him and ask him more details about his story. So he had run away from Brooklyn to pay a visit to his long-dated friend and finally find some peace, very far away from his own loft.

"Here I am". It was Daphne who showed up instead, taking him by surprise. She came out from Chuck's room.

Dan immediately understood that Nate was not there. He stood motionless eyeing her from behind his shoulder. Coming there had been a wrong move. He cursed himself. He knew he had to wait for Nate, downstairs at the hotel reception.

Actually, one thing was finding Chuck there, but meeting Chuck's sister, who he had written an article about and, the same one, who had advised him to stay out of her life, was another thing. But in that moment, as in his worst nightmare, she was right behind him, ready to hit him.

After breathing in and out, Dan slowly turned to look at her, scared by her possible reactions.

Daphne's face was signed by a waken night and a deadly glare. He gulped, but tried to be strong.

"I assume… that Nate's not here.." He begun, unable to cover his anxiety under her impassive expression. She stood speechless. "I-I…I should go" he pointed his finger at the elevator, his eyes never leaving hers.

He felt like a Medusa's victim, and Daphne was numbing him with her deep, penetrating gaze.

"Leaving so soon?" she asked, finally changing her facial expression. She was new to him, but her voice sounded controlled, as if she could contain her anger and be able to coldly enjoy any possible revenge. A slow and fulfilling revenge.

"Oh… I don't want to bother you" he explained, well aware that leaving that room was more difficult than what he'd whished. "I suppose you don't wanna..." he kept on talking, searching for an excuse to run away.

"Talk with you, about what you wrote about me'?" She finished the sentence for him, walking to the breakfast table at the center of the sitting room.

Dan was speechless. She looked like a killer. Her revenge wasn't going to be quick and painless. Daphne looked cold enough to shoot him down at the right time.

"There's nothing to say" he cut quickly. "It's my job, that's it" he justified himself, trying not to fall under her gaze. She looked even more powerful in that moment, looking down on him.

"Your job..." She seriously repeated it. She pictured a bitter smile. "Do you tell me, Daniel? Coming to the wolf's house after killing his own child, is a part of your job, too?". There was no sarcasm or uncertainty in her voice. She came right to the main point, cutting like a knife.

Dan was in trance. He couldn't help but notice the water springing in the corner of her eyes. It was pain, real pain. She made him feel a knot in his throat. He could see the dignity of a mother's sorrow for the lost her legacy in the way she was looking back at him.

"I'm just looking for Nate" he quickly changed the subject, unable to bear her agonizing eyes anymore.

"He's not here" she informed him, keeping on staring at him. She was destabilizing him.

"So…I'll go" he finally declared, in a brief moment when he thought that she was distracted by her own thoughts. He turned around and walked fast to the elevator.

"I'll see you in Court Humphrey" she communicated him while the elevator's doors were closing and dividing them. She had advised him. She would have left him in panties.

He found Nate at the reception, talking with the security. When Chuck was out, Nate was the one in charge, which was something frequent since Chuck had found his family.

"I'm sorry man, but I'm busy" Nate replied coldly to him.

"Come on... Ok, Fine! You're angry at me because of the article…" Dan got it.

"You're not the friend I used to know" Nate shook his head in disappointment. He was too honest to avoid that argument.

"I've spoken the truth. It's my job" Dan stated firmly.

"You've written an ocean of bullshits" Nate stood as secure as him on his position.

"Maybe Chuck didn't tell you what really happened to his sister" Dan was sure he was in the right about the story and about Chuck. Nate didn't make a move.

"I thought you were the good guy, Dan, an honest man, able to protect people from pain. Daphne has been wrongly accused by Nicholas father, who destroyed his own son's life, only to get at the Harvey." Dan opened his eyes wide. Nate kept on speaking.

"She risked her own life to give birth to the son of the man she loved. And she lost it. She lost both of them and has been obliged to hide her own child and live with that memory, for the rest of her life. If there's someone here, who doesn't know the truth, it's you" Dan felt it. Nate was a straight up man, he was not lying to him and, most of all, what he had listened, was not the story he had written about.

"Nate, Are you sure about it?" Dan asked him, shocked by the revelation.

"You should have been sure, too, before breaking a mother's heart and threw it to the sharks" Finishing the statement, Nate left him there speechless with a new truth.

Dan run his hand though his hairs. He had been an idiot.

* * *

"So, what are you planning to do?" Serena asked Blair while they were both sipping at their orange juices, sitting the Waldorf's living room breakfast table.

"We think it's better to let the press talk for now. In a few days Daphne and Nicholas will be interviewed by the CNN, for an exclusive confession. Something like Diana Spencer".

"It must be terrible... you Know? Losing a baby and be forced to keep it to yourself... never telling anyone…" Serena commented, still distraught by what Blair had told her about Daphne.

Blair froze, lowering her gaze. Every time Daphne's past became the matter of a talk, she felt the urge to take a depth breath and change the subject.

"These cookies are delicious! You want some more?" she pretended that everything was fine with a big smile pictured on her face. Serena sensed her change of mood.

"It's been two days that, when we talk about Daphne's baby, you start acting like this… Is everything fine, B?" Serena asked her with a suspicious look.

"Like this, how?" Blair got worried but faked perfectly a confusion expression, while putting a few cookies in her dish.

"As if this argument hit you in first person" Serena explained.

Blair stiffened a bit. She had to control her emotions. As the perfect actress as she was, she gave Serena an impeccable answer.

"You're wrong... It's just... it's so sad. If I only think about Daphne..." she stopped, realizing that she couldn't manage her emotions if she'd have gone further into that argument. Serena's questioning look told her that she had to find a great reason, to convince her.

"… Fine…" she admitted "The real thing is that I'm tired of talking about this with you, especially right now that we're back together. We should talk about us, going out for shopping, playing dressing up all day, doing a nice long chat about boys…"

"You're right, B!" Serena, excitedly smiled at her best friend. It was what she had missed the most while they were in war with each other. "We have tons of things to tell each other!" She grabbed a sweet from the table, staring at Blair.

She was looking at her phone. Serena knew that gaze pretty well.

"Talking about boys…. Have you seen Chuck?" she asked Blair.

"Chuck? No! Why?" Blair blurry replied to her.

"Nothing…. I was just wondering… You two work together now and I haven't seen him around..." She justified her curiosity.

"I assume he's with Nicholas" Blair said it, pretending not to know it. In fact she knew it, as Josephine had told her during their morning call.

"So, you two haven't seen each other since the other night at the party?" Serena was becoming insistent and Blair knew exactly what she wanted to hear.

"Of course not, S! Should I remind you that due to his brilliant ideas, I'm on every magazine as the one who sleeps with the boss?"

"That's not exactly the way they're defining you" The blonde underlined, smiling amused.

"The pictures of us look like a part of a sex tape" Blair was pissed about it.

"The press seemed to like the two of you together. They define you "fire & passion". They hope for new scoops"

"They can eternally wait for it" Blair cut her sentence. "There won't be anything else to discuss or better, to see. These pictures are out, only to avoid Penelope's scandal. That's it"

"If you believe it"

"I do, Serena! The times when Chuck Bass ended in my bed after 5 minutes of conversations are over" Blair was showing certainty.

"So, you're telling me, that when you were kissing, you weren't feeling anything anymore..." Serena was aware about Blair's denial phase. She did it every time she was falling again for him.

"Nothing"

"When he was unzipping your dress, neither?"

"Nothing" Blair replied trying to convince Serena, and her own self. She was internally cancelling the sensation of hotness she had felt when his hands were travelling on her tights.

"Neither when you climbed on him?" Serena faked surprise.

"I've told you Serena, Chuck and I, are two adults who can control their instincts when they are plotting. It's our Karma"

"B! That's Good to hear" Serena played her game.

"As you can see, We're just two exes, good friends, who are now working together, respecting each other's spaces and helping each other facing our enemies. That's all" Blair made a satisfied smile.

Serena glanced down. Blair had put Eleanor's tea into her glass, instead of the orange juice she had asked her.

"Just for curiosity..."Serena couldn't stop herself. Blair frowned in front of that intrusiveness.

"Ask me anything…. Remember… no more secrets between us" Blair allowed her, with a nervous smile.

"If you're not seeing Chuck anymore, why have you bought tons of La Perla's lingerie of Chuck's favorite colors, yesterday?"

Blair swallowed before composing herself back and answering her.

"Serena, the fact that I'm not with Chuck anymore, can't make me deny that he has impeccable tastes when we talk about lingerie".

* * *

"_While the Harvey's tragedy covers every magazine, a few hot pictures of Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf caught everyone attention. The pictures portray the two of them in intimacy at the Harvey's party. It was only a week before, the media attack toward Blair Waldorf, based on her social climbing and royal addictions. However the love story between the young CEO and the famous-infamous billionaire, started when they were both 17. Sources tell us that their story is full of sparks. A love that had overcame death, financial issues and an almost wedding to a French prince_…". Chuck turned off the tv, throwing the remote control on the sofa.

"Wow... these pictures, are... wua" Nicholas was taking a look at the papers for the nth time.

"We were plotting" Chuck tried to explain.

"Of course" Nicholas nodded.

"Between me and Blair there's nothing anymore" Chuck stood up and walked to the window.

"I can see it"

"It's all because of Daphne, if you can see those pictures" he was gesticulating with one hand, while the other was hidden in his pocket.

"Right... Penelope's hair?" Nicholas was pretending to make him feel right.

"She deserved it" Chuck was convinced about it.

"Totally!" Nicholas agreed. "The only thing I don't understand is, why making out in front of her..." Nicholas analyzed the main point "I mean… what did you wanted to prove?".

"To embarrass her" Chuck stated as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"Of course, man!" Nicholas admitted, thinking about it. "I don't know how I couldn't think about it" There was irony in his voice.

Chuck looked outside of the window, without replying.

"You've become the hottest couple of the planet" Nicholas commented after reading other 4 international newspapers. Chuck stiffened.

"My associates won't think the same"

"I don't think there's much to say, if you take a look at the picture where you are raising up her skirt.."

"Stop looking at those pictures!" Chuck scolded him out loud, turning to face him.

Hearing comments about Blair's back, pissed him off. The only thought that the whole world could say the same was intoxicating him. It was hell. He was angry and the fact that he was shouting at one of his closest friend, was the proof that he was losing control because of Blair, all over again.

"Don't be gross!" Nicholas replied back, knowing too well how Chuck was feeling "I'm just saying that Blair..."

"Blair is not that kind of girl" Chuck ended the sentence, well aware about what a man like Nicholas could think about Blair.

"Well, she is a kind of girl..." Nicholas was smirking.

"A kind of girl who has nothing to do with someone like you" Chuck stated with firmness.

Instead of letting her go, he kept on defending her. He hated it. He hated her for keeping on messing up with him. He hated himself for letting her have the control over his emotions.

"Those pictures tell another story, man" Nicholas raised the paper and showed it to him.

"I have to put an end to this mess" Chuck took the phone and started a call. He was angry. A fury.

"What are you doing man?"

"Bringing an action to the press" he seemed determined to end up that mess. To set himself free of her.

"Thanks God, there's nothing between you two, because, if this is the way you react in front of nothing, I can't imagine how would you react if you really were together" Those comment stopped Chuck. Nicholas obviously didn't believe him.

"Blair and I are over!" he repeated him.

"Even now that you're the king of New York City?"

"Even now that she's working for my grandmother" He let it get out of his mouth.

Since when he had shared that moment of fake passion with Blair, he had been unable to control his emotions. He suffered from verbal diarrhea. He felt as if he was locked in jail, hunted by his worst fears and his great wishes. It wasn't good. He was living a nightmare. One taste of Blair Waldorf, and she was taking away every inch of his sanity.

"So… you're telling me that you won't fuck her up on your office desk?" Chuck faked a smile just to please him.

His best friend's dirty thoughts about Blair, made him sick, but he would have not given him the satisfaction to make fun of him all over again, much less, to make him aware of what would have really happened in that office with Blair if they would have lost control.

It was the reason why he agreed with Blair, that they had to put a distance between them and stay away from each other as far as possible.

"Blair and I, are just friends. Nothing more" he pretended to be indifferent.

"So there are no problems if she comes with us to find your mother in Minnesota?" Nicholas suggested. Chuck swallowed.

"Of course not" he replied, trying to make it sound natural.

"Tell her" his best friend provoked him.

"I'll have my secretary to make the call"

"Come on Chuck, it's just a call. What's wrong about making a call to a good friend?"

Chuck realized it. Nicholas was not going to back down in his game and he couldn't let him win.

He took the phone and, acting as if it was a common thing, he called Blair, never looking at his best friend in his eyes.

"I told you, not to call me" Blair answered on the other hand of the line.

"Good morning to you too, Waldorf"

"What the hell do you want Bass? Have you any kind idea of what could happened if someone is tapping us?"

"Relax Waldorf… no one wants to be as far away from you as I do" those words shut her up.

"So, what do you want?"

"Just telling you to get ready for lunch time"

"Why?"

"A mission"

"I don't know what part of our pact you didn't get. I'm not going anywhere with you! Have you forgotten that we can be seen together?"

"Believe me Waldorf, I would agree, if only we won't need a master in communication like you,

when we'll find my mother"

"Elisabeth?" she asked, not hiding her surprise. She knew that they have decided to play that card, but not that soon.

"I know you're in" he stated in the silence. 'You know I want you there' was the real meaning of his words.

Blair thought about it. She would have never left him alone again with that woman. Never again.

"I could…" she accepted "But on my terms"

"I'll always concede a friend like you, this privilege" he hid to both Blair and Nicholas the sensation of relief he was feeling.

"We'll travel on different cars" she stated.

"Fine"

"I can accept the same hotel but our rooms must be on different floors and in opposite areas of the hotel. We can't take the risk of fake gossip blasts again" she had to prevent it.

"I'm on the same opinion"

"We won't never be in the same place at the same time"

"I'll survive it"

"And… for all the mission long, you won't fuck anyone in my presence" Chuck's lack of answer made her realize that she had gone too far. She had to repair it.

"Even if they think we're together… which is not true" she specified "I'm not gonna play the part of the cheated again"

"It's an applicable condition…" Chuck agreed "… that I'll accept only if you'll do the same".

She was stunned by his request.

"Even if I don't need to agree" she stated with emphasis "I accept only for the mission"

"Fine. I'll be there at 12"

"At 12"

"Did you see?" Chuck looked at Nicholas. "We're two friends who respect each other"

"Just for curiosity…" Nicholas was not done just yet, which was something Chuck didn't like. "If everything is over, why she's still your number one on your dial calls?"

Chuck raised his lips to form a smirk. Nicholas would have never won the match.

"This is where you're out. Blair is my number one on the speed dial since when we were 11 and she took me to the hospital because I broke my leg. Real friends have always had the best places in my telephone book"

**I've never looked for my mother. I know that it sounds strange, but it's the truth. I've never had the curiosity to know if she was still alive, who she was with or what she was doing. Never. **

**Maybe I hated her so much that I rather know her dead in my life. Maybe I was so used not to have her with me, that I didn't even need her anymore.**

**I had seen her for what she really was, long before Chuck. Stuck on that plane, waiting for closing that mess once and for all, the only idea of asking her a favor, really pissed me off.**

"I'll come with you" Josephine said from the other hand of the line.

"You won't" Daphne stopped her.

"You don't know her the way I do"

"You can't move"

"John can come with us" her grandmother proposed.

"I know what you're thinking. I'm fine, believe me" Daphne lied to convince her.

"Sweetheart I know you better! You can't fool me!" Josephine scolded her, making her smile for the first time in days.

"Chuck is with me. Blair's too. I'll be fine" Daphne used the people her grandmother loved the most to appease her.

"Blair calls me 3 times a day to comfort us... she's so lovely" Josephine confessed her. "The only thing that makes me happy is that the press is changing opinion on her".

Daphne didn't speak, but her grandmother could read thought her new mood.

"I know how you're feeling... You're facing your own sorrow while the whole world judge you for your mistakes and go on, enchanted by a different love story"

"It's not their fault" Daphne replied, breathing in and out. She knew that Chuck or Blair had nothing to do with it.

"I've never forgive myself for agreeing to that pact, my love". Tears were pouring down Daphne's eyes at her grandmother confession.

"We've already talked about this" Daphne tried to stay strong, to resist. "It's ok, really"

"You know that the Empire is surrounded by the press?" Josephine informed her nephew, aware of the impact that it could have on her.

"Blair's car left a few minutes ago. She'll enter the garage and we'll take the helicopter from the roof" everything was planned. Josephine stayed in silence for a while.

"I wish I'd been a better guide for you" Josephine broke, unable to hold back her tears.

Daphne felt a knot in her throat. It was a terrible moment for her grandmother. Her illness and her past were hunting her, making her feel guilty.

In spite of all had happened, she loved her grandparents with every fiber of her being and she didn't blame them for the difficult choices they had made. Deep inside of her, she had always understood them and they have always been the strongest support she had ever had.

"You were. I wouldn't be here If you weren't there for me" Daphne assured her, crying too.

"Your grandfather is coming. I have to let you go" Daphne smiled again. She knew that Josephine didn't want to be cough by Andrew on the phone, like that. He always got worried and took the blame for it.

"It was not your fault. I need you to know it" Daphne said to her.

"Thank you, my love. Have a good journey"

Daphne stayed in silence for a while.

The idea of looking for her mother to clean up that mess, scared her. It was the only way to end that never ending war. That was what had been decided. She glanced down, caressing her belly with her hands. It was empty, empty like her.

* * *

"Where are we heading to?" Blair asked, walking on the plane, which was waiting for them in an old hangar, out of NY. All their ways to avoid the press had worked.

"Minnesota" Nicholas explained.

"What is she doing in the desert?"

"The phantom" he replied to her, sitting on the leather sofa. It was their very first conversation.

When Daphne walked in, Nicholas eyes were on her, which was something Blair couldn't stop but catch. Right in that moment Chuck came out of the pilot cabin followed by an hostess and the pilot.

"How are you?" Nicholas asked Daphne. He hadn't seen her in days and even if he pretended to be fine with Chuck, he was really worried about her.

"I want this over as fast as possible" Daphne briefly replied. That article had opened too many wounds, too many memories between them.

"We'll find her. I promise" he reassured her in a sweetly tone of voice that surprised Blair.

He was telling it to Daphne, as he believed that meeting Elisabeth, could cure them too, as it could make up for everything he had done. Daphne didn't reply, she simply nodded and headed to one of the little bedrooms of the plane.

Chuck and Blair stayed in silence until Daphne was out of sight and Nicholas was sitting back on the sofa, self-pitying with his head in his hands.

The pilot, who lied behind Chuck, said something to the hostess and came back to his cabin.

"My PI called me. Elisabeth is in Texas" Chuck announced.

"We'll go wherever she is. We have to find her" Nicholas was more than sure about it. It was about time to end their family war.

"Thanks God this plane is full of comforts. I'll retire in my bedroom" Blair puffed, pointing at one of the doors in front of her. The longer she had to be locked in the same place as Chuck, the further she had to stay from him.

"It's already taken" Chuck communicated her.

"Of course it's taken!" she pointed out to him, indicating herself.

"It's my plane!" he stated with a dark gaze.

That game was starting to piss him off. He felt like a puppy in her hands. He knew that she'd won, that he'd let her won, but Nicholas was right behind him, ready to make fun of him. Chuck Bass couldn't give up so easily. That was his plane, his reputation!

"It is, but you violated our pact" she justified.

"Which part?" her exit got his full interest.

"We should have travelled on different lines" He lowered his gaze and put his hands in his pocket. Arguing with her was so familiar to him. He just couldn't get enough.

"It was "different cars" and, if I'm not mistaken, this is a plane Waldorf" he specified trying not to laugh at her expression. She was not backing down. He wasn't either.

"It doesn't change anything, Bass…" she took a deep breath.

"Why don't you share the bedroom?" Nicholas intervened, proposing them something that they would have never accepted.

Chuck and Blair, both turned to look at him with a cruel expression.

"Are you out of your mind?" Blair accused him while Chuck stood in silence.

Lying in a bed with Blair was a terrible idea, especially when it came from Nicholas' devious mind. Chuck thought about it. Maybe he could have stayed on the seat and played poker with Nicholas.

"Take the room, I'll stay here" Chuck finally informed Blair.

She was still frowning at Nicholas, who was smirking at her. 10 minutes in a room with him and she already hated him.

"Lucky for us, we'll take different cars in Texas and I'll go with Daphne" she said with relief.

Staying with Chuck was obviously not an option, and Nicholas was unbearable. She had never seen someone as unpleasant as him. Who the hell he thought he was?

"I should say the same" Chuck nodded in agreement, trying not to eye at Nicholas, who was smirking at them in the background. "At least I could sit wherever I prefer" Chuck added, catching back Blair's attention. The only way to shut Nicholas up was pretending to be friends.

"Fine" she smiled before looking back at Nicholas who wasn't smirking anymore. "Don't you See?" she asked him. "A good deal, means long friendship!" she smiled at him with triumph.

Clearly he was not used to lose.

"Now, if you could excuse me, I'm going to respect the _"not staying in the same place together"_" she let her hand slip on Chuck chest before turning to leave.

Chuck couldn't stop but smile taking a look of her back, while she was walking away from him, to sleep in his own bed.

* * *

"This must be a joke... I'm probably still on the plane dreaming to be in the middle of nowhere and a cowboy-Clint Eastwood kind of man running towards me on a horse while the dust is ruining my hair" Blair was nervous.

"I've already told you. There's NO mistake. We've changed the destination and the dealer had just a BMW left" Chuck explained to her for the nth times. He was annoyed.

"Who tells me that you haven't done it on purpose?"

"If you don't believe me, go and ask yourself to the gas station attendant who received the car" he made her street to the gas station attendant office.

She cross fixed him. 3 men stood outside of the office. She looked back at Chuck who had an amused expression that she couldn't stand. She quickly walked toward the office.

"I don't need your help" she stated nervously at Chuck, when she realized that he was right behind her to follow her. What if they would have seen them together and tell the press?

"Whatever you want" Chuck replied calm, answering with the smirk of the winner.

She desperately wanted to punch him. She hated him.

"Where's Blair?" Daphne asked Chuck. She was already inside of the car that Nicholas was driving.

"She's looking for another car" Chuck was amused. He stood by the gas station pump, his hands in his pockets and a blue electric refined suit under the hot sun.

"There are no other cars" Daphne replied.

"That's what I told her" Chuck was enjoying that moment.

Nicholas jokingly placed his forehead on the driver. It was going to be a very long day.

"Is it possible that in a huge state like Texas, there's just a car to rent?" Blair was complaining with the gas station assistant.

"Miss, this is not an hire shop. We just receive the renting car and give it to the costumers. That's it"

"I don't believe you! Give me another car now!"

"Believe what you want" the man puffed. She was annoying him.

"You don't understand!" she reasoned "I need that car!".

In the meantime, the man was accompanying Blair out of his room. She had changed her voice tone, not the authoritative spoiled girl anymore, but the needing girl.

Chuck lowered his gaze, smiling. That was the Waldorf scheme old school.

"I'm sure your friends will help you, bringing you to the next city to rent another car" the man was pissed by her insistence.

"They're not my friends! They kidnapped me!" She played her last card. She talked to the man in a whisper, pretending to be seriously in danger.

"They took me here, from NY city against my will! You have no idea what their capable of… You need to help me!" Blair tried to sound desperate.

"Nice try" the man was done with her. "Now, miss, get your ass in the car and leave"

"You have no idea of who you're talking to!" Blair fumed. Who was him to treat her that way?

"To a girl who's wearing a 14 cm high heels in the middle of nowhere?" he made fun of her.

"Those shoes cost at least as much as you can earn in a month!" she replied back. NO one could insult her Jimmy Choo.

"That's too bad. You'll get rid of them after this journey" he provoked her.

"The difference between me and you, is that I can get rid of them and buy an entire shop, while you can only buff yours once a month" she stated with arrogance taking a step toward him. Those words irritated the man.

He stocked his chest out, showing to her, the muscles under his shirt. Blair didn't step back. Chuck got worried.

"I apologize for my friend..." he stepped in to prevent any kind of problem. With a quick move Chuck took Blair's elbow and pushed her away from the man. "She is a little stressed from the jetlag"

Blair was killing Chuck with her gaze. What the hell was he doing? He had to defend her, not insult her.

"You can't think that after her accusation I'd let her go this way" The man stepped toward Blair, but Chuck covered her with his body to protect her.

"What do you wanna do to me?" Blair provoked him, pissed by the man's arrogance.

"Well, I'm sure that there plenty of other ways to end this..". With the certainty of the experienced man, Chuck took out of his pocket a bribe of money, and handed it to the man.

The man stubborn stared at the hand first and then at the couple in front of him. Without hesitations he punched Chuck on his left eye making him falling on the ground. Chuck screamed with pain.

Blair stood motionless. Daphne slid on her seat to hide herself. Nicholas made a pained face.

"You're just two spoiled guys" The man stated. "Here In Texas we settle differences like men!" he threw the money back on Chuck, shaking his head in disappointment.

Chuck was touching his eye, feeling a sharp pain. Blair leaned to help him.

Before leaving, the man looked at Nicholas and Daphne, who still locked in the car, were quite embarrassed.

"Take them as far as possible from here. And muzzle her!" he pointed at Blair.

"It's a good idea" Nicholas agreed with low voice before receiving a dig on his chest.

"Shut up and lift him up" Daphne ordered him.

* * *

"The next time you want me dead, at least, apprise me first" Chuck mumbled after 5 minutes. They were all in the car.

"You got what you deserved for lying to me" Blair was looking out of the window.

"I didn't lie to you. The hire shop had just this car" he explained her again.

"You should have asked another hire shop" she was obsessed.

"Why haven't you called yourself?" he asked fuming. His eye was swollen and the only thing Blair was doing was complaining.

"Being a gentleman has never been your mantra Bass" she seemed offended.

"The gentlemen here, took a punch because of your being bitchy"

"Oh, poor boy! I'm pretty sure you've lost your sight" she made fun of him.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be this way" he blurted out.

"And if you didn't bring me in the desert, nothing would have happened".

"So, is this all my fault?" he was exasperated.

"Who else's?" she agreed "_It's the only ways to solve this mess_" she quoted him, with a theatrical tone. Chuck watched her cross, than turned to look out.

"And who on hearth, suggest me to muzzle myself? Me! Blair Waldorf!"

Daphne and Nicholas were listening rolling their eyes to the sky. It had been 10 minutes that Chuck and Blair were fighting, throwing at each other their pacts, their plans, mistakes, anything they could.

"If you had a muzzle, I wouldn't be close to death" Chuck comment was sarcastic.

Blair suddenly kicked his leg, making him scream again.

"Have you lost your mind?" he yelled at her.

"Look! You're still alive!"

"You'll pay for this Blair" he advised her.

"Let me guess…. What will the Great Chuck Bass do? Do you wanna fire me?" she was not stepping back.

"Ok, Enough!" Daphne couldn't stand them anymore. "Pull over the car" she ordered to Nicholas.

"What are you doing?" Chuck asked confused.

"Why are we stopping?" Blair was surprised too.

"We're all going out of the car and when you'll stop shouting, we'll leave" Daphne spoke clear.

"I'm not stepping out there, I'll ruin my shoes!" Blair complained.

"Under the sun? Risking an eye bleeding?" Chuck lamented.

"Get out of this car, NOW!" Daphne shouted with firmness.

Chuck and Blair looked at each other like two children on a punishment. They slowly opened their car doors and got out before closing the doors behind them with their heads held low. In that moment Nicholas locked the car doors.

"Ehy! What are you doing?" Blair turned on her heels like a cat.

"Nicholas unlock the doors!" Chuck ordered him with anger. What game were they playing?

"We'll be back in two hours to pick you up, when you'll finally behave like lambs!" Daphne explained to them.

"This joke is not funny!" Blair stated. "You can't leave me here with him. What if someone sees?"

"You're in the middle of nowhere baby, at least you'll meet a rattle!" with that, Nicholas left them there with the most pissed expressions he had ever seen in his life.

"Finally alone". Nicholas turned to Daphne with triumph. That little theatre reminded him their past intimacy.

Daphne looked at him with sufficiency, before making the radio lauder.

Nicholas understood immediately.

**There were moments when I desperately wanted to kick Chuck and Blair in the asses. They had found each other back, but they were too stubborn to admit it. The past, the wrong choices, all the time thinking back at the other and the days spent to curse each other had simply flown away. That heavy stone that had divided them for so long had disappeared. They could start over, for good. ****Too bad, they were so proud and childish to keep on insulting each other, pretending not to love each other, instead of realizing that they were falling in love more and more every day.**


	11. Chapter 11

I Hope you have like the previous chapter!

I've never been in Texas, so this chapter comes from the images and few documentaries I've watched!

Thank you as always!

* * *

Chapter 10 :

Even if the articles about Daphne's and Nicholas's dead baby comes out, the press gets obsessed over Chuck's and Blair's fake sex game.

Daphne and Nate met Dan at the Empire. He realizes that he has been used by the Count in his personal war against the Harvey family.

Blair and Serena friendship is back, and Serena gets the sensation that Blair is hiding something that really hurts her.

Both Serena and Nicholas make fun of Chuck and Blair about the pictures that portray them in a very compromising position. However Chuck and Blair deny their feelings and make a pact not to see or call each other.

Moved by the articles, the group decides to look for Elisabeth in order to convince her to tell the press the whole truth.

Blair and Chuck agree to go in Texas to find Elisabeth, together with Daphne and Nicholas, making a list of condition to respect.

Due to Nicholas teasing, due to Fate and a change of programme, Blair gets mad at Chuck, leading him to receive a punch because of her behaviour.

Annoyed by a long hate fight between Chuck and Blair, Nicholas and Daphne leave them alone in the desert to sort their things out.

**Chapter 11**

**500 special**

**My grandfather always said that issues should have been solved by the roots. When two people fight, damaging whoever is around, their issue became a problem for anyone who could pay the consequences. **

**"Lock them in a room until they find a solution" he explained to me, showing his best way out if it. **

**"It's kidnapping!" I used to reply. **

**"It'd rather call it a peace rescue" he stated with a smirk, once. His strategy amused him. **

**I, for myself, believed it was a wrong move, so I argued, saying "You just have to leave them alone whenever they fight and in case, send them separate invitations".**

**He always ended up reminding me "With someone, prevention is better than the cure". **

"I can't believe it!" Blair said looking at her shoes, careful to protect them from the dust.

"How could they steal our phones?" she wondered. "Of course..." suddenly she realized, putting all the missing pieces together. "They did it, while you were stopping me from using the jet bedroom!" Obviously she had to underline that it was because of him if they were there.

"Relax, Waldorf..." Chuck calmed her down, taking a seat on a rock and placing both of his hands on his face. His eye was still giving him pain and Blair had been talking nonstop for 20 endless minutes, procuring him a terrible headache.

"Relax? Are you serious?" She was out of her mind. "In case, you haven't realize it, we're gonna spend all the day here in the middle of nowhere! We can't even send an SOS signal! I can't relax Bass" she yelled at him.

"When Daphne crushes an ant she cries like a baby! She's gonna come back like a dog, in five. Trust me!" he paraded calmness and security.

"Trust you? Never" Blair instinctively replied back with coldness. He held back a smirk.

"Now… until they'll be back, please do me a courtesy, think in silence" he begged her, concentrating on his headache.

"And what are you planning to do in the mean time? Sleeping on that rock and waiting for your sister all the time long?" She was hysteric. She hated him. It was all is fault. How could he stay so calm? They could die out there!

"It's a choice" he answered as if it didn't bother him. His answer upset her more.

"Don't even try to think about it!" she nervously admonished him. "Chuck Bass, stand up and go find someone who can save us!" she ordered him with an authoritative tone of voice.

Anyone else would have never replied to her but not Chuck Bass. He loved that hysteric part of her.

"We're in the desert, Waldorf. No one else is around, except me and you" he specified slowly as if she was a baby.

"Have you ever heard about a place called oasis which usually you find in the middle of every desert?"

"I know what an oasis is" he assured her.

"Then, I'm sure that someone will help us" she pretended to be sure about it. There was no way he could enchant her.

"No one is out there" he repeated, half because he really believed it, half to provoke her.

"Let's make a bet!" she challenged him.

He deeply stared at her.

They were wasting their time. Just taking a look around was enough to understand that he was right on that count, but he knew her too well, which caused him another thought. If they had left that place, she would have complained about her feet aches, about the hotness, about the dirtiness of the street. They were all things that amused him about her, even if he would have never told her.

He stood up and with a slowly panther path walked to her.

"If I win, you'll be my minion for a month, carrying my bag and doing everything I want" he stated, thinking back at the previous weeks, when she had toyed with him in front of the employers of his family company.

She didn't like his condition, but she couldn't give him a reason to think that she was worried to lose against him.

"Fine!" she reluctantly accepted. "And, If you lose, you'll keep on bringing coffee to all the employers of your grandmother's company and do the things I want, for the next month" she showed him her hand to seal the deal.

Chuck looked at her, then at her hand. He wouldn't have lived that hell anymore. He took her hand in his and tightened the grip. After a few seconds they both felt a shiver coming from their linked hands.

They briefly looked at each other and suddenly broke the contact, turning their gaze to the country side around them in embarrassment. That was not good. No touching anymore as per article 19 of their old truce pact.

"So, where do you wanna go Waldorf?" he asked, changing the subject and looking at the street which was losing itself in both the directions, surrounded only by empty spaces. Blair did the same, only to realize that easily finding a way home was impossible.

"You'll go that way" she pointed at the horizon on his right.

"I'll go?" he echoed her, even if it didn't surprised him.

"You can't think that I'd walk with these shoes on this dusty ground" She complained.

Chuck simply stared at her, imposing her to reason her choice.

"I've waited 5 months to have them! No one knows better than you how an exclusive piece of leather can value!" she knew he could understand her problem like anyone else. "Plus... it's your fault if we're stuck here in the middle of nowhere!" she finished, taking a look at the rock he was sitting on before. She would have waited for him, sitting there.

He didn't make a move. He knew he would have won that battle. It was the best part of knowing her better than himself.

"Fine! It means that if you'll meet a lizard, you'll welcome it on your own" he commented as if it was one of the most common things in the world.

She stiffened her face and paled.

"Chuck Bartholomew Bass, I HATE YOU!" she shouted, looking at him with anger. He lowered his gaze and smirked.

Blair nervously walked past him and stared to walk on the empty street.

Chuck followed her a few seconds later, unable to stop from taking a good sight of her back which was wiggling according to the ways her heels touched the ground.

He smirked. He knew that she was wishing him dead.

* * *

"They haven't called us just yet. Isn't it strange?" Daphne was surprised, sitting in a coffee shop.

"Maybe they are out of the line" Nicholas looked indifferent to it.

"When did you steal their phones?" she asked, reading through his subtitles.

"On the plane, when they were fighting for the bed" that conversation still amused him.

"They are gonna kill us" Daphne shook her head. They had been stupid to leave them alone in the desert.

"Depends…. If we're lucky they've already killed each other" Nicholas joked with a smirk.

"We should go back and pick them up" Daphne felt guilty.

"Please... They'll have sex and they'll become docile" Nicholas was more than sure about it.

"Too many things are on the menu Nicholas… We can't due mistakes" she reminded him with a serious expression.

"They'll fuck like bunnies, and they'll become as good as bread. Believe me, we've done the right thing!" he assured her again. He was quite satisfied by his own ideas.

"Let me guess... you can't wait to catch them in the act". Years had passed but she could still read in his devious mind.

"Where else would be the fun?" he asked, as if nothing else existed but his point of view.

Daphne turned to look outside of the window. She had no words. He was always the same.

Nicholas sensed her mood. She wasn't approving him but she didn't want to start a fight.

He looked at her, she was lost in her own thoughts, so he started to play with his hands.

He didn't like being next to her, and feeling her so distant, at the same time.

* * *

"Don't try to get closer Bass!" she yelled like a fury.

"There will come a day when you'll thank me for that" he replied, persisting on his position.

"For what? For keeping me here in the desert with you, instead of accepting a lift home from someone so kind to understood this hell?"

"He wasn't a kind man"

"Oh and how do you know this?" she made fun of him.

"Because when you were talking to him, he wasn't staring at you face!" he growled, trying not to sound like a jealous boyfriend. He would have punched him in his face, while he was looking at Blair's chest.

"As if you'd never done it! The Great NY deflower accuses a trucker, just because he was going to give a lift to a damsel in danger!" she had no hesitations in accusing him for the nth times.

The fact that she could make fun of him on such a serious point, pissed Chuck off.

"I apologize if I prevented you from finishing alone with a stranger with bad intentions"

"If you haven't caused a scene like a stupid jealous boyfriend, we'd have solved our problems" she held against him.

"Don't worry, Waldorf, the next time I'll stay out of it" he assured her, pretending to be indifferent.

He didn't like that she could think that he was jealous of her. He didn't like her irony, he had done it only to protect her.

"The next time, I won't feel guilty, taking a bath in my bubbled Jacuzzi, thinking back at you, alone and in the dark, still here in the middle of nowhere, waiting for someone of the good intention to come and rescue you" Blair retorted him.

A tiny smirk pictured on Chuck's face.

"But you'll think about me..." he marked with arrogance. "… And, we both know that you won't be able to leave me here alone…".

He was staring at her in that way, the one that makes her legs weak and her heart exploding in her chest. He placed a hand under her chin and lifted it up.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that" she challenged him, stepping away from him. She couldn't fall in front of him, but it had come out in a vulnerable tone of her voice.

"When you capitulate so easily..." he teased her, caressing her arm and getting close to her again.

He had noticed her lack of security. Chuck Bass didn't miss a thing when it came to her.

_Damn that mother Chucker!_ She thought. He couldn't know her so well! That made her angrier.

"When we'll be back at home, you'll pass the worst day of your life Chuck Bass! I swear it!" she stated, stepping back.

"We'll see it, Waldorf" he couldn't stop but tease her, looking at her as if had the victory in his pockets.

"Oh! We'll do"

"What are YOU doing here?" a voice from the street interrupted them.

They had been so taken by their fight not to pay attention to anything else. Chuck and Blair turned, utterly surprised to find Dan Humphrey there, on a 500, fixing them astonished by their presence.

They both stared at him in trance.

What the hell was he doing there? How long he had been there to watch them? How many people had passed while they were arguing?

They both briefly stared at the car and then at each other with a complicity look: survivor first, the third degree then.

"I should ask you the same thing, Humphrey" Chuck replied, raising his lip in a smirk. "However, I have to admit that, for the first time in my life, I appreciate your timing" with a nappy path he reached Dan's window.

"Nothing but the truth, if I may add" Blair nodded in agreement, walking to the front seat next to the driver.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Dan asked, watching them going into his car without even asking him the permission.

"You have no idea how bothering it could be, waiting for a lift in the desert, under the hot sun..." Blair was forcing Chuck to the back seat.

"This is Texas, not the desert" Dan specified, observing Blair while she was putting a tissue on the seat before leaning on it.

"Is there a difference?" Chuck asked.

* * *

"Humphrey, switch on the air conditioning, we're about to pass out" Chuck ordered. He was flopped down on the back seat, trying to understand where to put his legs in the tiny spaces of the car. It was so hot that Blair had to start waving a paper she had found on Dan's bag, to make herself some air.

"There's no air conditioning" Dan informed him, looking at the street in front of them.

"What does it mean that there's not the air conditioning?" Chuck was shocked.

"Every single car of the planet has the air conditioning!" Blair pointed out, agreeing with Chuck.

"Well, not this car" Dan said it again.

"So, can you please explain to us, why on the hearth have you chosen to rent this car to drive in the desert?" Blair asked, quite confused. Chuck nodded.

"Because I like it!"

Blair grimaced before looking outside the window.

"Am I allowed to wind down the car window or it's locked?" she made fun of him.

"Please Don't!" Chuck admonished her, annoyed by the situation. "At this speed, if you wind down the windows we'll end up like ducks in the oven"

* * *

"I can't believe it!" Blair finally complained after five long useless minutes, passed trying to make herself air with a piece of paper. "If I'll suffer from edema due to this hotness, Humphrey, I'll sue you!" she waved the paper nervously.

"A what?" he asked, almost pissed by her spoiled and superficial behaviour and taken back by her exit.

"Everyone knows that people can't be exposed at the sun without specific protections, Humphrey" she reasoned.

"How about the edema?" he was curious.

"I know that probably people in Brooklyn are still looking for a diphteria's cure, but I can informe you that the medicine has evolved itself, Humphrey" Chuck informed him, untieing the knot of his tie to avoid a chocking.

"I know what an edema is" Dan assured Chuck, before turning towards Blair only to realize what she was doing.

"Ehi... I need that paper!" he indicated the one she was waving. It was his flight's ticket.

"This one?" she showed it to him without careness. "Until you'll switch on the air conditioning, consider this paper a prisoner of war"

"This car is 30 years old, it has no air conditioning!" Dan stated, well aware of the fact that two elements like them could not understand it. Actually, he was used to Blair's tantrums, but he was not used to Chuck's and Blair's tamtrums all together at the same time.

"Then the paper is mine"

* * *

"Just for curiosity..." Chuck spoke again, leaning ahead as mush as possible. "The front seats can be moved ehead, right?". It was not his limo, that was pretty clear.

"No, it's not possible" Dan explained to him, staring back at him from the rear view mirror.

"Are you saying that I have to stay stuck in this hole all the travel long? The back of the police car has more space for the imprisoned" Chuck complained, before looking at Blair who had all the space to move her legs.

"Don't even think about it, Bass! I'm not going to sit in the back" Blair anticipated his request, without even looking at him.

"I'm risking a sciatalgia!" he lamented.

"How can you think that, to avoid it to you, I'd risk a hump, Bass?" she wasn't able not to reply to him. "This isn't something a gentl..." she accused him, but she was interrupted by a shrill sound.

The three of them looked around.

"What was that?" Chuck asked.

Dan didn't reply, he simply pushed the same button he had pressed a few minutes before and they heard the same sound.

"Ehi! What the hell is going on?" Blair shrieked, holding on to the seat with both her hands.

"I suppose it's the windscreen wiper" Dan replied.

"You suppose?" she repeated.

Dan pressed the button again, only to hear the same sound, watching the spatulas, crawling slowly on the window and lining it.

Chuck and Blair stared at it, horrified.

"Humphrey, are you sure that this car is not coal fired?" Chuck asked him. Dan decided to stay in silence.

* * *

"You could have picked up a more modern car, Humphrey..." Blair commented, turning up her nose and looking around, "It's clear, that it's not been cleaned since the Second World War" she couldn't stare at the seat with nothing but a disgusted expression.

"This car is an history heritage..." Dan defended it. "… a piece of history, made of efforts and industries which build up the evolution and I'm not talking about Louis Vuitton or Hermes, just to be clear!" he explained with satisfaction.

"And of the scapping" Chuck ended his sentence. "If we would have walked, we'd have been faster. How long we've done? 50 mt?"

Dan shook his head. They were unrecoverable!

* * *

"What were you doing alone in the street?" Dan asked them, changing the subjet on something he found more interesting than the lack of the air conditioning.

"We should ask you the same…" Chuck changed his bored tone into a malicious one.

"Chuck was insulting me and his sister threw us out of the car" Blair explained talking on Chuck.

"Can you repeat it?" Dan asked her still unconciuos.

"Daphne threw us out of the car, leaving us alone in the desert. OUT. ALONE. DA SOLI" . Reapeating herself borthered her.

"Out?" Dan specified, imaging the all scene in his mind.

"Don't mind Humphrey, we are well aware of the fact that for someone like you, who is used to be OUT, it can be difficult to understand the difference with being Inside of..." Chuck started.

"Shut up" Blair admonished him. "I'm the one who's speaking". With the majestry of an Oscar actress, she pictured a smile on her face and turned to look at Dan.

"Don't listen to him, Dan, it's his fault if we're here, obviously, not yours, as you're bringing us back home". Dan couldn't contain a perplex expression. He didn't like the way they were fighting.

"In fact the one with the purple eye is me" Chuck specified with firmness. He hated being compared to Humphrey. He hated that Blair defended Dan. He hated that she toyed with him just to annoy him.

"If HE had respected our deal, we wouldn't be here" Blair replied to Chuck, but talking to Dan about Chuck as if he was a third. She knew that her behaviour borthered Chuck.

"And if Blair would have been more obliging, I wouldn't be here, risking blindness!" Chuck played her game. He talked to Dan, without paying attention to her.

"He's always the same old selfish Basshole!" Blair stated turning to look at Chuck, but still talking to Dan about him as a third.

"And she's becoming a little repetitive" Chuck looked at her, but talked to Dan.

"Ok, Guys I think that..". Dan uselessy tried to manage their argoment.

"You're gross, Chuck Bass!" Blair shouted on Chuck face, preventing Dan from finishing his sentence.

"Let me guest, Waldorf... you disgust me!" Chuck provoked her. The more he got the more he wanted.

"You are the most unbearable person in the whole world Chuck Bass!" she was histeric to him.

* * *

"What does it mean that we run out of petrol?" Blair yelled, walking nervously back and firth.

Chuck was massaging his meninxs. They still stood in the desert because the car had stopped.

"It means that we have to walk to the gas station" Dan explained to her, taking an empty canister from the trunk.

"This must be a joke" she blurted out. "The undersigned is not going to walk under this hot sun!"

Chuck tried to hide a smile while leaning on the hood, crossing his arms on his chest and enjoyng the scene.

He would have killed his own sister for what she had done to them, but he would have payed all the money in the world instead, not to miss Blair Waldorf shouting at Dan Humphrey _'You can't seriously think that I'll stay in the car! On my obit there won't be written that I've died in the desert, on a 500, drove by some random Brolkynite_!" when the car had started to make weird sound and Dan had suggested her not to open the door.

"There's no other option, Blair" Dan advised her, trying to calm her.

"There's always another way Humphrey! Haven't you been told at the scout course?"

"I've never been at the scout course"

"Everyone does it!" she replied back.

"I didn't. I've been at the summer camping" Dan specified

"That's the same Humphrey! Everyone knows it" she reasoned before staring at him waiting for his reaction. He stood motionless instead, so she crossed her arms and she kept on looking at him.

"Stop playing Kumbaya in your head! Make this car move now!" she scoled him.

"You like it or not, we have to walk to the gas station" Dan cutted.

"I'll stay" Chuck anticipated him. He would have saved the other eye at any condition.

"Alone?" Dan asked him.

"I'm pretty sure that Blair is glad to come with you. I've recently discovered how much she loves the gas station assistants .." Chuck commented, unable to shut up.

Without any second thoughts, Blair kicked him in his shin making him scream of pain.

"You only hit in the same spots, do you?" he complained, touching his shin and grimacing with pain.

"Don't worry, the next time I'll hit the other eye" she assured him, knowing how narcissist he was.

"So, who's coming with me?" Dan interrupted them, exhausted by their continuous fights.

"I'll stay, my eye aches" Chuck reasoned, as that pain could have disabled him.

Blair stared at Chuck for a long moment.

"Me too" She said.

"You stay?" Dan asked her, hoping to receive the opposite answer. "…With him?" he ended his question, looking at Chuck. Leaving with her would have allowed him to talk to her and broke the spell that Chuck had on her.

"We can't abandon a wounded!" she justified her decision, unable to admit that she didn't want to leave Chuck alone.

"He has a black eye" Dan was confused.

"What if he has a discharge while we're away?" she seemed worried.

Chuck stared at Dan with his famouse smirk pictured on his face.

**Nicholas and I were really close. I became a woman with, I discovered my femininity and I learned how to read the many shades every relationship has. At the very beginning I was scared by the sense of completness I felt being with him. The fact that he had had many other girls before, didn't help. I thought that we would have got bored, but I was wrong. The more I loved him, the more our complicity grew. It was always a matter of a touch, of a look or of a perfume to lose control.**

"How long does he take to come back?" Blair hissed, throwing her jacket into the car window. Chuck sat on a rock behind her, enjoying the view of her curves though the sunglasses he had found inside of the car.

"I still can believe it! This is not happening to me!" she complained, placing both her hands on the car to support herself.

"In the mean time… we can talk about your Red Cross nursing attitude… play the nurse-patient game... Indeed... I feel a sharp twinge of pain right here behind my eye" Chuck provoked her, following with his eyes her movements.

"Remove that image from your mind, Bass" She raised her arms to gather up her hair. It was too hot out there.

Chuck smirked. He was secretly happy. The fact that she had stayed with him, instead of going away with Dan, made him gloating.

"It was your favourite role to play as I recall…" he reminded it to her, travelling up her body with his gaze.

Blair swallowed. She knew he would have used it against her at some point.

"The only reason why I'm here Bass is that if something bad happens to you and someone knew that I've abandoned you, the new health project of the Harvey Foundation wouldn't be voted by the board!" she pointed out to him, finding her job the perfect excuse to shut him up.

Chuck gloated even more than before. There was no health project on the menu. He knew it better, as he was the one who had to read them all before introducing them to the board.

"And since when do you have an interest in human being who are not ducks?" he asked her, amused by her possible reaction.

"Since when your sister reminded me that being powerful means thinking about the needy, even if they are poor or a huge pain in the ass like you" she didn't miss the shot, eyeing him from behind her shoulders.

"What a noble thought!" he commented taking a good look of her backside.

"Enough! Stop doing it!" she finally admonished him, turning for the first time to look straight at him.

"What?"

"Thinking dirty things about us" she stood with her hands on her hips. She knew exactly what he had in mind. Obviously he was still the same deprived Basstard she knew.

"Talking about it..." he slowly sat up from the rock. "If you'd want to sunbathe, I wouldn't complain".

"I knew it…" She stated without irritation. She walked away from him to wait for Dan's arrival.

"Worried over your dear Daniel?" Chuck asked trying not to sound pissed at it.

"If I were you, I would. If he got lost, we won't go home anymore Bass!" she replied back and walked to the farest rock from him.

Chuck smiled.

* * *

"Bass" she called him back, 20 minutes later.

"What do you want?" he moaned, rubbing his eyes, and waking up.

"I need you"

"Anything you want..." he replied with a malicious tone. She hit him on his back and he fully opened his eyes wide.

"I have to pee" she informed him with urgency. He perplexy looked at her.

"Did you wake me up because of this?" he asked joining the pieces. "Find a tree!" he suggested her.

"There are no trees in this place, you idiot!" she hit him again harder.

"Ehi!" he screamed, sitting back up on the rock.

"I need a toilette!" she specified.

"There are no toilettes around here Blair. We're in the desert!" he reminded her.

"Find me a toilette Bass!" she ordered him.

"I can't... but…. I know a few positions that can really help you.."

"I hate you!" she hissed, pushing him back on the rock and standing up.

He held a laugh. She was exhausted but she was still the sexyst woman he had ever seen.

"Already heard it" he replied, still staring at her with his smirk and his crossed arms. He had to reply to her. It was stronger than him.

"Fine" she sulked. "I'll do it on my own, as always" she turned her heels and quickly took a narrow street which was going into a huge space full of rocks.

Chuck stared at her, and tried to control his emotions. She was going to kill him and he knew that he would have allowed her to do it. However, Watching her leaving was such an hurtful scene to him, something he was used to but he didn't want anymore, that he felt the urge to stand up and run after her.

"Blair, where are you going?" She was going to push him away, with pride. He deserved it but he had to try.

"Stay away from me! I don't need you help!" she was aloof.

"It didn't seem like that when you woke me up!"

"Things changed! Go away!" she informed him with proudness.

"Fine, I'll do as you want" he left her speechless. Instead of staying there, he changed the direction and walked back to the car.

A cold shiver of anger run down her body. He was leaving her alone.

"Call me If you need me!" he said when he was far from her.

"I'd rather die!" she firmly stated, High head and closed fists. She was going to do it on her own and she would have won the war.

Chuck on his hand, allowed himself to smile and started to count.

* * *

"Chuck" Blair's bloodcurling scream came as surprise to him. He knew she would have called him for a trivial reason. He was waiting for it, but what he expected was a needy but pissed Blair's tone of voice. This one scared him, instead.

He just had the time to stand up and reach the narrow street, that she was already pitching into him.

"There's a snake! Behind me!" she was terrified and she was trembling in his arms. Chuck tightened the embrace to hold her as close as possible. He instinctively eased her in the opposite direction to protect her and pressed her head against his chest so that he quickly took a look at the street where she had come from. After a few seconds he cracked into a good, reliefing laugh.

"Are you laughing?" Blair hit his chest with all the strenght she had left. She was going to die and he was laughing!

He looked at her.

"I didn't know that snakes had tails and big ears"

"What?" she looked confused, setting back from his embrace just enough to observe the animal. "There's a crossed wires... There was a snake out there!" she repeated.

"Absolutely" he nodded holding back a laugh.

"That was.." she tried to explain, but the animal came into her view. Watching the animal and back at Chuck, Blair realized in what kind of situation they were.

"… a rabbit" Chuck smiled, keeping on rubbing circles on her back to calm her down. It was then that they both found out that she was holding her skirt in her hand.

"Get that look out of your face!" Blair ordered him, quite embarrassed, pouting at him, but still holding the grip of his shirt.

"If you wanted to fall in my arms you just had to ask" he provoked her, taking her back against him, well aware of all the risks that would have come from the closeness of their bodies.

"I could have died!" Blair tried to place a distance between them, pushing him briefly away with her hands on his chest.

He deeply stared at her. The idea of losing her was something he couldn't bare. He tightened the hold of her waist and leaned closer, nuzzling his nose against hers, to let her presence make his worst nightmare fade away.

Blair couldn't help but close her eyes and breathe in his perfume. He was so close that she couldn't move an inch anymore. She could hear his heart beating fast.

"It'd be such an irreparable loss" he teased her, finally able to relax. She was safe, she was in his arms, nothing had happened. His mouth placed a few sweet kisses on her cheeks.

Holding her so close had exploded the instinct he had repressed for too long. He desperately needed her and he wasn't able to hold his desire anymore. And she felt the same, he could sense it by the way her eyes closed everytime a part of him touched a part of her, by the way her hands kept on pulling him against her.

Blair knew she had to break away and reflect, but she couldn't and deep inside of her, she didn't want to stop. She couldn't control the way her body responded to Chuck's moves. His breath on her skin prevented her from resisting his avances. Their contact was magnetic, electrified, she could see the fireworks while his tongue caressed her neck.

Her arms had slowly moved from his chest to his neck, and then from his nape to fully possess his hairs. Her trembling legs, weakened from the previous scare, had linked to his own.

"We can't…" when she tried to think clearly, his lips were on hers, making her lose her mind all over again.

"Liar" he persued her, scared at the idea of breaking their contact. Even through he didn't fight her when she found the strength to briefly push him away to look at him.

She was battling inside of her with her instict. He could read it in her eyes.

"We have a deal" she whispered staring at him but trying not to fall under his gaze. NO sex with Chuck Bass! Never again! She repeated in her head to find back her self control.

They stood motionless to study each other, but Chuck hand slipped inside her shirt from the back and caressed her skin.

"This is unfair Bass!" she murmured, enjoying all the sensation she was feeling under his touch.

"Then, why are you still here?" he asked her, penetrating her with his darken eyes and his deep low voice. What she read in his eyes made her lose control.

In the matter of a second she nestled him to her and kissed him madly, clinging to him, helping him to lift her legs up against his hips.

"The car" she ordered him, between a kiss and the other, rubbing her nose on his cheek.

Chuck didn't need to be asked twice.

He slowly broke away from her and opened the door to move the front seat. When everything was ready, he turned to offer her his hand.

Her black veil shirt, already unbuttoned, showed her black lace bra. Without her skirt, the 12 centimeter high heels soared her legs even more. Her hairs were uncombed, her lips reddish and swollen by his kisses.

He took a full view of her body, from the feet till her hairs, making her blush by the desire she could read in his eyes.

He dampened his lower lip. He couldn't control himself anymore.

* * *

"This is unbelievable..." Nicholas commented with surprise and a hint of taunt, leaning against the gas station pump. He was wearing jeans, a with shirt and black sunglasses.

"What?" Daphne asked him, intrigued by his expression.

"Look who's there..." with his chin, Nicholas pointed her which direction to look at.

"Nate was right" Daphne thought back at the phone call she had just ended with him. Nicholas swallowed.

Even though, what she saw didn't borthered her, so she walked away from Nicholas. He didn't like it.

"So… You and Nate..." he started that conversation.

"Nate and I, what?" Daphne asked him.

"You're spending much time together"

"He lives with Chuck"

"But he calls YOU"

Daphne didn't move for a few second. They both looked at each other in silence, Sunglasses against sunglasses.

"I like him. He's a good guy" she confessed him with sincerity. She didn't know how Nicholas could react to it, and in some kind of ways, she didn't care.

Nicholas stiffened his jaw and closed his eyes to control his emotions. He didn't know what to say and how to say it. He took a deep breath.

Right when Nicholas was opening his mouth to tell her what he felt, Dan Humphrey recognized them and motioned to them. Daphne puffed frustrated by the situation, then took a few steps toward him, interrupting what Nicholas was going to tell her.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him. She didn't care that he was tired and sweaty as if he had just ended a marathon, she just wanted to know what game he was playing.

"I know that you'd rather eat with your worst enemy than with me" Dan stopped to take a deep breath. "But, if I don't drink something, I think you'll never know why I'm here..." he finished.

Daphne and Nicholas exchanged a look of agreement.

"Come on..." Nicholas lifted him up from the back of his collar shirt and took him to the bar.

* * *

"Oh my God..." Blair sighted with satisfaction.

"I'd have never said that such a tiny car could have been so usefull..." Chuck commented, leaning in oblique on the back seat of the 500, with his head against the window and a still breathless Blair cuddled up on him.

"Why do we always end up having sex in the back of a car?" she wondered out loud.

"And on a piano, on the billiard tables, on the bar pavillons..." he remembered rubbing circles on her bare back with one hand, while the other one caressed her hairs. She felt good and relaxed in Chuck's arms.

She calmly sighted. She was not going to move. She could have stayed in that position for hours. The sex had made all the tensions of the previous weeks fade away.

"Do you believe that Elisabeth will help us?" she asked him for the first time since he had announced the plan to meet his mother and taking advantage of the intimacy of the moment.

Chuck stood speechless for a moment, enjoying the feeling of her naked body on his.

"Honestly... I don't expect anything from her" he confessed her. It was the truth. Things had changed from that Christmas. He had changed.

"I know how difficult it is for you... the idea of meeting her again..." she lifted her head to look at him. They had never talked about Elisabeth after her departure, neither about all the consequences she had left behind, especially between them. She had stated the end of their relationship, the end of Chuck and Blair and he knew it better.

"It doesn't change anything" he replied to her, not hiding the pain for a past he couldn't change, for the mistakes he would have brought with him for the rest of his life. He would have never committed the same, not to Blair, anymore. It wasn't much, but it was a good start.

"What if…" she tried to ask, unable to stop her need of certainty, but his lips prevented her from ending the question. He was not talkable. He wasn't going to say anything else.

"Dan could come back" she pretended to complain while he was kissing her neck.

"He'd learn something"

"Why do you treat him so badly?" she asked him, smiling, while he was licking her shoulders.

That question stopped him and made him turn to look her.

"You really care about him…" he stated feeling jealous of her exit.

"He's not that bad if you know him..." she explained, taking his head in both her hands to lean close to him and bite his left ear. "...even if he doesn't know how to dress and most of the times he's an intolerable moralist, he has some good sides too...". She kept on talking when she heard him moaning. "For example…. he can cook... he loves movies.. he reads...".

It was right there that Chuck quickly whirled her under him, returning on top.

"Are you jealous Bass?" she provoked him, knowing too well, his reactions. She slowly straied her hands on his chest to excite him.

"No more talking" he shut her up with a breathless kiss.

* * *

"There. That's my car" Dan pointed at the only car on the street.

"A 500! My friend of Ponza has a 500!" Daphne smiled with joy.

"Lidia" Nicholas remembered too.

"Exactly" Daphne agreed, sharing a harmony look with him.

"Where are them?" Dan asked as Chuck and Blair were nowhere to be seen. Nicholas turned to look at him with a smirk.

"Where do you think they are?" Nicholas asked him and Dan understood immediately.

"I don't think it's possible... When I left, they were fighting like crazy..." Dan blabed, trying to link Blair to Chuck, having sex in his own car.

"You're such a Journalist... What's the point of studying like crazy, if sometimes you have a goat's intuition" Nicholas commented, not hiding his laugh.

"How do we introduce us?" Dan panicked.

"Like this" Daphne animatedly honked the clacson.

* * *

"You told me that no one would have passed" Blair mumbled with low voice, after hearing the sound of a clacson.

"I did" he nodded, hanging on the top of her.

"Get up!" she pushed him away but the car space was so small that he rebounded on her.

"Move!" she yelled at him again. "And cover yourself! We can be found like this"

"Relax Waldorf, whatever we're gonna do now, they already know what happened. They just have to look at you to understand that..." Blair shut him up kicking him in the same shin.

"Ahi!"

"I knew I had to stop myself!" she cursed, putting her shirt up.

"The first or the second time?" he asked knowing her answer. She made a disgusted expression.

"Let's get one thing straight. I don't know if it was the sun or the annoyance, or the fact that you were the last man in the desert... There won't be a next time!" she declared with firmness.

"Blair Cornelia Waldorf" he blocked her, putting his hands on her hips. "You'll be back in my bed before you'll have the time to realize it" he informed with the arrogance and sureness he was so proud of.

"Shut up and dress up!" she threw his pants to him and freed herself from his arms.

"Anything you want" he commented with darken eyes.

* * *

"I knew it would have gone this way..." Daphne said, trying to contain a laugh, while she was looking at the two inside of the car, who were passing each other their own pieces of clothes.

"They won't speak anymore" Nicholas made fun of them, sneering.

Dan was motionless, watching right in front of him. He felt like an idiot for ever thinking that he could have taken Blair away from Chuck.

"If I were you, I would prepare myself for Blair's reactions, instead of laughing…" Daphne knew her enough to know that Blair was able to get out of the car and unhook a bomb.

"Chuck Bass muzzled her, believe me" Nicholas assured her with a smirk.

With nonchalance, Chuck went out of the car, with his shirt half unbuttoned and uncombed hair. Behind him, Blair was fixing her skirt and her disheveled shirt.

Daphne, Nicholas and Dan were staring at them.

Both Chuck and Blair didn't say a word while reaching the car, then Chuck stopped in front of them, with his hands in his pockets. Right next to him, Blair put her hands on her hips. They were both staring at the bmw with the eyes of a killer.

Daphne tried not to laugh. Nicholas carefully observed them, before picturing a malicious smile.

"Look at them... They screwed twice!"

"How can you say it?" Dan asked, almost pissed at it.

Nicholas looked at Daphne, then they both turned to look at Dan.

"He's Chuck Bass!" Daphne and Nicholas explained together as it was a predictable thing.

**The first time I saw Chuck, I understood that I was standing in front of a unique case. We were in an old caveou and he sat at the bar with two half naked women who were twisting on him. One of the girl was taller than him but he didn't care. An hour before he was liad on a sofa with a couple of tweens on his legs, while other girls were waiting for his attention. When I was leaving the pub he was going away on his limo, together with other 4 girls of the different forms and colors. I couldn't stop but ask to the people next to me who he was, but he heard everything. With a huge smirk on his face and an insolent convintion he stated "I'm Chuck Bass". I cracked in front of him.**


	12. Chapter 12

As always I want to thank all of you for your support and your reviews. I really appreciate them and it makes me really happy to know that you're finding the story still interesting and the characters IC.

This chapter will give you more details about someone's past. I hope you'll like it!

* * *

**What happened in chapter 11:**

- Being left alone in the desert, Chuck and Blair fight to find a way home.

- Daphne discovers that Nicholas has stolen Chuck and Blair's phone to prevent them from finding an easy way out.

- Unexpecatantly Dan appears to Chuck and Blair with a 500. They suddenly get in the car believing the worst has passed.

Dan's car run out of petrol right in the middle of the nth

of Chuck and Blair's fight. The only way to resolve the problem is walking to the gas station. Chuck and Blair decide to stay in the car.

- A new fight and a little desert rabbit let the fire explode between Chuck and Blair. Their hate becomes passion.

- When Nicholas and Daphne, pick up Dan, and come back to find Chuck and Blair they find out that they had sex in the back of Dan's car

**Chapter 12**

**Mother without children**

**My mother's bedroom has been kept intact. My grandmother has never removed or thrown away anything. I've secretly been there a few times, before I was 9 and still unaware of many things. I adored the fact that I could open her closet to find her clothes. It felt like she could have come back home anytime soon. Once, I stole a picture from the room, knowing that I couldn't go there whenever I wanted. She was dancing in a beautiful white dress that reached her knees and her hairs were gathered up in a colorful foulard. She happily smiled. It was the portray of a young and sunny girl, full of life and with a wonderful future to build. She was my beloved mom.**

"How can you be so sure that she'll help you?" Dan asked them while they were reaching Elisabeth's door.

"Because if she doesn't, you'll publically denounce her" Blair explained to him, showing all of her security.

"I'll denounce it..." Dan repeated it, contemplating the meaning of those words. "I'll denounce it?" he finally asked, running after her on the garden path.

"What did you think? That we brought you here just to listen to your childish novels?" Nicholas specified with an arrogant voice, keeping on walking.

"Man, I…" Dan started to say something, but Nicholas unexpectedly stopped and turned toward him.

Dan halted too and stood motionless under his gaze.

Nicholas wasn't the one who had joked about Chuck anymore. The guy in front of him, was the one he had written bullshit about, the one who had lost the baby he had put on the covers of every paper, the same one rejected by his father and the one who was there to meet the mother of the ex-girlfriend he had lost because of their family issues.

"The fact that I didn't kick you when I first saw you at the gas station, or that we had a little fun about their little fuck" Nicholas motioned towards Chuck and Blair "doesn't mean that you can become friendly with me". Nicholas explained looking straight into Dan's eyes. "We're not friends! If I only wanted, you'd be already cleaning the toilettes... Never forget it, Humphrey"

When he finished, Nicholas walked back on the house path, without even waiting for Dan to reply or defend himself. Nicholas had simply left him there to follow him with his gaze.

"Don't you think you've been a little rude to him?" Blair scolded Nicholas, well aware of the fact that it was not easy for Dan being there with them.

She didn't like Nicholas. She didn't like the way he behaved. "He admitted he was wrong and he's here to help us. Maybe it's not enough but it's a good start" she was sure about it.

Nicholas interrupted his path for the second time and looked at Blair with a smirk.

"It's Weird that you're defending him…" He stared at her, travelling up her body with his gaze "should I recall you that you've just screwed your ex-boyfriend in the back of his car?"

Chuck reacted immediately.

He stepped ahead placing himself in front of his best friend, covering Blair from his view, with a stiffened jaw and a serious look. He didn't have to say anything because his authoritative gaze showed his disappointment.

Nicholas knew exactly what Chuck was doing and he didn't stepped back.

"Chuck..." Blair called him to stop whatever they were doing, but he didn't move. It was a men thing, and between friends like them, respect was a priority.

"Apologize to her" he ordered to Nicholas, but he did not as asked.

The others could feel the tension rising up between them.

"Enough!" Daphne interfered to put an end to all that theater. They weren't there to start a fight, but to find her mother.

"We're all nervous, but Blair is right. Dan is not our enemy. He regretted what he did to us and this makes him an honest in my eyes" she explained to Nicholas.

"You've always been too naive" he accused her.

"Yes, probably I am. And he's not a friend of mine but he's here to help us now, which is something I appreciate".

"If it's what you want…" Nicholas accepted with reticence, biting the bullet.

In the same moment, a long limo was reaching the house, driving though the garden, heading towards them.

They all made it street, realizing that Elisabeth could be inside.

Chuck and Blair instinctively got closer, without touching each other, Daphne didn't move. She stood motionless in the middle of the path to stop the car.

The black car windows bent down and exposed a chic woman with big dark sunglasses to their view.

Chuck stiffened, Daphne paled, Blair felt a shiver of anger running down her spine, Dan put a curious expression and Nicholas coldly stared at the woman.

After taking a good long view of each one of them, Elisabeth glanced down.

"I was waiting for you" those were the first words she pronounced.

* * *

It was a majestic and refined house.

Elisabeth had ordered to her waiter to bring them some fresh tea and settle them in the huge living room. She joined them just a few minutes later, changed in a more comfortable dress, taking a seat on their opposite sofa, never looking at Chuck and Daphne.

Chuck was nervously rubbing his hands while his gaze was incessantly orientated to the floor.

Daphne looked detached, cold, instead. It was as if she was careless about whatever was going to happen, looking smugly around.

It was after an endless silence that Elisabeth finally laid her eyes on her kids.

"You look good" she started, taking the tea carafe in her hands to pour it into their glasses.

"I don't want it" Daphne informed her.

"It's not a wise choice. It's pretty hot today, It'll help you" she insisted.

"It'll help me..." Daphne echoed her with a painful tone that made Elisabeth turn towards Chuck.

"Charles, please drink the tea" Elisabeth handed him the glass.

Chuck lifted his eyes on her. He briefly stared at her, then at her hands. His gaze was so dark and penetrating that Elisabeth's hands started to tremble.

"Dan is thirsty" Blair interfered, coughing to catch his attention.

"Oh...Oh, yes... I am, Mrs.." Dan nodded understanding what Blair was doing. "With this heat I really need something fresh... Is it always this hot around here?" he started to prattle, but Blair looked daggers at him.

"Texas is not New York" Elisabeth conceded Dan.

At her exit, Nicholas chafed. They weren't there for a family chatting, and the air of the room was becoming heavier as the minutes went by. They needed her answers to be able to leave that horrible place and finally find some peace.

"What kind of link does still exist between you and my father?" he asked threatening, standing up, next to the big mirror of the wall. His voice didn't allow ways out. It was the direct question everyone was waiting for, but that anyone didn't expect in that very moment.

Elisabeth looked intrigued by the profile of that boy, she didn't even seem surprised by his arrogance. Even thought, her eyes came back on her children who were looking at her with hard to please eyes. She swallowed.

She had to take time, avoid the matter, make that encounter last longer, because if she had given them what they wanted, they'd walked out of her door forever.

"I know why you're here…"

"Good, so we can avoid this embarrassing theater and we can get though the point" Blair cut out, pissed at the way Elisabeth was taking time. It was old school, the one she, as queen of the Constance, had started.

"Blair…" Elisabeth stared at her picturing a pleased smile on her face. "Finding you here with my son, doesn't surprise me" she sipped the tea from her glass. "Still by his side" she specified.

Blair's blood started boiling in her veins. She knew what she meant with that sentence and she knew better than all the others in the room, that she was telling it to have a reaction from Chuck.

Chuck hardened his hands in a fist. He was going to answer but Blair's voice interrupted him. She was so calm that he got worried immediately.

"I've already told you Elisabeth that I've invented that doe look. Let's not repeat ourselves. I don't" she put a malicious smile.

"By the way, Years passed, and things changed" Blair communicated her, pouring herself the tea in her glass while Chuck's eyes were following all her moves.

"I wanted so desperately that Chuck could meet his mother that I wrongly believed in you..." she sipped her tea, crossing her legs with elegance "…not because I thought that you were an high class woman, but because I've always thought that there couldn't be a mother in this world who'd have renounced the chance to know a son like Chuck". Blair didn't hide all the emotions she felt talking about him and their past. Chuck, himself was enchanted by the sweet expression she had made talking about him.

However, at that point, Blair cleared her voice and her face became a challenging mask.

"Too bad, that after what happened I believe that he deserves much better than you. Actually, both of them do. Plus, this time I won't make the same mistakes".

Elisabeth was stunned by Blair's protective words. She was warning her that everything she had in mind, she would have stopped her.

Chuck couldn't stop but keeping on staring at Blair with admiration and devotion.

Elisabeth nodded, giving Blair the sensation of victory. It was just an illusion. She looked back at everyone to study them in silence.

"I won't say anything if my kids won't ask" Elisabeth challenged them, finding the courage in herself. She was still an experienced vixen. Many years of war had thought her how to control her emotions and think clear.

That exit took everyone back broken, but not Daphne and Chuck: Daphne was expecting it and Chuck raised his lips into an ironic smirk.

Elisabeth understood the answer only by their looks. Something in the way they reacted made her feel proud of them. They had the Harvey's blood, the blood of the strategists.

"I'd like to say that It's been a pleasure, but It wasn't" Chuck slowly stood up, buttoned his jacket. He looked at his mother with coldness one last time and left the room.

Elisabeth turned to look at her daughter who looked back at her for a while, before taking her purse and following Chuck outside.

"Congratulation. You had a last chance with them and you've just lost it" Blair stated, preventing Nicholas from speaking and showing the exit to Dan with her eyes.

* * *

"You stood up and left! What the hell was that?" Nicholas scolded Chuck, following him outside. He was hysterical. "You should have asked for her help! Accept whatever she offered!" he accused him, rising up his voice.

"I'd rather die" Chuck was furious. His mother was just toying with them, like all the other times. He wasn't going to play her game anymore.

"Maybe you've forgotten it, but that's the reason why we're here" Nicholas reminded him with hardness.

"Shut up!" Blair protectively showed up in front of Nicholas to stop him from keeping on insulting Chuck.

"What the hell do you want now?" Nicholas asked her as he had enough about her.

"Don't you understand how difficult this is for them? She abandoned both of them and she acts as if they could eat muffins together"

"They should stomach them, if necessary, because without accomplishing her, our journey here had meant for nothing!" Nicholas was full of resentment. He was so angry at his father, that he couldn't see what Daphne and Chuck were into. His revenge was the only thing he was thinking about.

Hearing his words, Daphne went pale but Dan was the only one who realized it. While the others were shouting and fighting she had isolated herself, staring at the ground like a baby.

Dan couldn't believe it, the man who loved her didn't even care about her feelings. His selfish behavior was hurting her to death, but his own family issues came first.

"Why don't you speak with your father?" Chuck suddenly asked Nicholas with heat, walking to him and bringing him by his collet. He was completely out of his mind. He wanted to hurt him as much as he had done to him and he knew exactly where to hit him.

Nicholas felt it and didn't react at Chuck shot. His words had opened his bloody wound.

"I don't have a father" he whispered to his best friend, staring deeply in his eyes.

"And I don't have a mother" Chuck stared back at him, replying slowly to him. He let go the hold of his shirt and made a few steps away. They were sons of the same war, destined to the same pain.

"Excuse me..." In that moment Elisabeth's waiter appeared at the door and interrupted them.

They all turned to look at her.

"Mrs Elisabeth instructed me to show you your rooms for the night" she announced.

They all looked at each other astonished.

"Please, tell Mrs. Elisabeth" It was Daphe who replied, coming out of her miserable mood. "That she can't buy us".

The woman, ashamed by the situation, nodded and walked back inside.

"Chuck, Wait!" Blair voice got everyone's attention.

"Where are you going?" She was running after Chuck who was reaching a limo which had just appeared at the end of the house's path.

"Leave me alone" he said to her, getting into the car and avoiding her sad eyes.

"Chuck, please don't go!" she begged him. That moment was so familiar to her that her heart broke in her chest.

Something in the way she had said those words made Chuck turn to look at her. His eyes softened for a while, sinking in hers. However, when Blair took a few steps toward him, he moved his gaze away.

"Text me the hotel address" he just asked before closing the door and leave her alone on the house path.

Blair closed her eyes to hold back tears. The story was repeating itself, but that time he was going to come back. She could feel it, he just needed time. She breath in and out. He just needed time.

Dan, who was following the whole scene, standing next to Daphne, couldn't help but realize how much he had been wrong.

He shook his head disarmed.

He was standing in front of the richest guys of the planet, the young promises of the world, people who could have changed the life of many people just with a finger's snap. Though, in that very moment, right in front of him, they were just miserable kids, facing their fragilities, perused by the desperate desire to own the most natural thing of the world, but also the only one they would have never bought: the love of who gives birth to you.

* * *

"I saw her" Daphne confessed in front of her glass of tequila.

"What did you feel?" Uncle John's voice on the phone was professional. He was too used to psychoanalyze people.

"Irritation" she didn't need time to think about it.

"I expected it"

"Do you know the saddest thing of all this? I didn't even care about her anymore..." she admitted, before swallowing her tequila in one go.

"That's weird"

"Do you believe it's possible to be in front of your worst nightmare only to realize, that it's always been just an illusion?"

"What are you drinking?" his uncle teased her and she conceded herself a smile.

"The best tequila I've ever tasted"

"Buy a bottle for me, it seems it works!" John joked. Since she was 15 he had always been the one able to read all of her shades and keep her at ease even during the worst moments.

Daphne pictured a smile, realizing something.

"What if I was wrong?" she wondered.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe, during all these years we've just played her game, blaming us and thinking about her, believing that we had to felt guilty..."

"They call it "facing a loss"" he explained.

"Can you believe it?" she animatedly raised her voice. "She wanted this! She confined us in a pathetic life so that she could feel relief for what happened to her! She abandoned us just to watch us crawling back to her, begging for her help!" Daphne said opening her eyes wide on the truth.

"Are you sure?" John asked, already realizing the answer. She could have been right. His sister had always been obsessed by revenges since she was a baby.

Daphne didn't reply. What she had realized made her sick and good at the same time.

"It's about time that someone cuts the umbilical cord, once and for all!" she announced.

Her uncle got worried. He knew what his sister was capable of, and that thing scared him.

* * *

He sat on the bed's board of that drab motel the others had chosen for the night. Even if he was used to his luxury hotels, he would have found pleasant every kind of accommodation to avoid a night at Elisabeth's house.

A thing was having a brief encounter with her, another one, was sleeping in her own house, smelling her scent in every corner or hearing her voice behind the walls.

He had found consolation in his old Jack bottle, but the alcohol had no effect on him anymore. It couldn't do anything against his mother poison.

He took a deep breath and the imagines of the day replayed in his head.

His mother.

The unbridgeable emptiness he felt deep inside whenever he remembered his childhood.

His father.

His mother again.

He couldn't deny that that woman had something magnetic. Maybe it was the fact that they had the same eyes, or the rare way she faked sweetness, or her ease self-confidence of being such a bitch.

He was the son made of evilness, bastardy and bitchiness. Chuck Bass, the ass of Manhattan, son of Bart the bastard and Elisabeth the bitch. Bart the bastard, had been fooled by Elisabeth the bitch to make an infallible equation with the name of Chuck Bass.

He run his hand through his hairs.

His eye still ached. The mirror in front of him reflected a big swollen purple livid that circled the eye. He tried to touch it, but he screamed when his finger made contact with the hurt skin.

It was the fourth punched he received for Blair.

He closed his eyes and deeply breathed in and out.

Blair Waldorf... The other side of his day. The other side of his life.

She had protected him and defended him in front of his mother. She had attacked her and challenged her like a tiger that was defending her own kids.

Chuck smiled, thinking back at her courage, at her combative glare.

She had heard in his silence his sos signal and she has stood by him, against his mother with the boldness he had always admired in her. When she cared about something, nothing could stop her.

His hand slipped in his pocket.

He slowly took out Blair's Tiffany pendant he had accidentally ripped out of her neck during the moment of passion they had shared in Dan's car.

They had been so much taken by each other, not to realize that she had lost it, so, when he had found it on the floor he had collected it with the intention of giving it her back, but it was his mother's moment and he had lost the right timing.

He observed it with a smirk on his face, as the memory of his name that had echoed inside of the car, while she was clinging into him with every fiber of her being, became vivid to his mind.

It wasn't just sex. It had never been just sex between them, which was something they knew better.

He kindly caressed the pendant.

He had seen it on Blair's neck for a year, as she wore it in every picture, every public appearance he had seen of her.

Even if it was a Tiffany piece of jewelry, it wasn't that expensive, unlike any other jewels she used to buy, each one scarcely under 1000 dollar value.

It intrigued him as it didn't come from the period of her engagement to Louis, but it wasn't so distant from the moment they had left each other, neither.

It should have meant much to her as she didn't remove it or replace it with anything else, like the ruby ring her father had given to her before leaving NY with his boyfriend Roman.

He could still remember the day he had found his own bedroom at the Empire, completely overturned by The Waldorf tornado. She was so desperate for losing her father's ring to throw both their expensive clothes everywhere just to find it.

If that tiny pendant meant the same to her, as he believed, he could only imagine how she was feeling.

However, a part of him knew, deep inside, that it was something he would have not liked.

* * *

"Blair, What's going on?" Serena asked her on the other hand of the line. She had sensed her tension.

"I can't find my pendant!" she replied with trembling hands, while she was rummaging in his suitcase.

"Are you taking about the little cherub?" Serena seemed interested. Blair stopped.

"How do you know?" Blair got worried but she suddenly corrected herself. "I mean, how do you know that I'm looking for it?"

"Because you never remove it from your neck" Serena reasoned, with calmness.

"Of course" Blair took a relief breath before starting back to throw cloths everywhere. It wasn't there. Where was it?

"Blair is just a pendant..." Serena tried to make her think. "You own almost 8000 pendant as beautiful as that one" Serena couldn't see it, but her words made the tears reach Blair's eyes.

Blair heart was beating faster. It wasn't like any other pendant, but, of course, Serena couldn't know it. No one knew, except her.

Blair tried to compose herself to be able to reply to Serena, without building any kind of doubts in her best friend.

"You're righ,t S" she pretended to be indifferent.

"Fine"

"Fine. I'll call you tomorrow" Blair switched off her phone.

* * *

"Blair? What are you doing here?"

"The car's key" she quickly ordered him.

He stood perplexed for a while. Blair puffed, it was always the same story, he didn't understand.

"Humphrey, give me the key of you car!" she repeated exaspered.

"Why?"

"I've lost something which could be in your car" she kept things vague, but the anxiety was getting bigger. It should have been in the car. There were no other options.

"What have you lost?" he tried to help her.

"My pendant"

"Which one?" his journalistic mood was on.

Blair stood speechless. She had hanged out with him as friends for over a year and he had never noticed that pendant. She always wore it.

"The cherub one" she specified. He tried to remember it.

"I've cleaned the car almost an hour ago, I didn't find anything" His words chilled her blood.

She hoped that she had lost it there during the sex with Chuck and not in the desert.

Something inside of her broke.

"Maybe Chuck has seen it" Dan suggested her with a malicious tone. He still had in front of his eyes the image of her and Chuck in the back of his car.

Blair paled at his exit, but didn't catch its shade. She was too lost in her own thoughts to pay attention to Dan and his comments.

If Chuck had really found the pendant, what she would have done? What she would have said to him? She knew him so well, he was going to ask her things which she wasn't ready to reply just yet.

She really didn't know what to think or to do, so she turned and walked back to her room.

Chuck and her pendant… Chuck and the truth…. She kept on thinking in head, holding back the tears.

Dan called after her a few times, but she didn't hear him.

Chuck and her pendant…Chuck and the truth…

She struggled broken hearted in the alley.

In the darkness of the night that room was a narrow place.

* * *

The empty walls which lacked of memories were different from the houses where she had been raised up during her childhood, full of pictures and fragments of their family life.

That house was an unfamiliar place, far away from the warmness of what she was used to.

She just had to walk in the kitchen of the Milan's apartment to find a huge picture of her grandfather, dressed like Mickey mouse on her 6th birthday, attached on the fridge, or run in the alley of the house in Monaco to watch tons of family portrays. One day her grandmother had told her that a house without memories was like a man without a soul.

It felt weird, being in the house of a mother and couldn't find any sort of memories of her children in it. There were no pictures, no fist teeth inside of a can, no drawings with the word mama written on, no souvenirs from the family vacations. There were nothing but empty walls and chic furniture.

"You came" a voice called her from behind. Daphne slowly turned toward the woman who was hiding in the shadow.

"I'm here to put an end to this story" Daphne anticipated with a deep breath. Being the adult of the room was difficult, but it was the right thing to do.

"Your brother's not here" Elisabeth sounded disappointed.

"He doesn't know I'm here"

Elisabeth nodded. The way Daphne was standing in front of her under the pale light coming from the window, with her head held high and the voice full of courage, reminded her Josephine, her own mother. There was so much of her in her daughter, and nothing of herself.

"I've missed you, my sweet girl" in the darkness, the tear which was falling on Elisabeth's cheek was invisible. She had been right not to turn on the light, because the cold mask she had put on for years, was fading away in front of her first daughter. The darkness of the room could cover her emotions.

"I've missed you too" Daphne replied, but her voice was cold, something that Elisabeth sensed. "Once" she specified with her honesty. "But then I cut off the power and I didn't feel you anymore"

After her confession, Daphne felt light for the first time in years. She had waited for the return of her mother for too many years, and the more the time was going by, the more she slowly survived to that pain.

The time for a mother-daughter reunion was over.

She had lost the right to be her mother when she had destroyed her life over and over. In her eyes Elisabeth was just a biological parent, with the same dna samples. She had found a real mother in Josephine, the woman who had cleaned up the mess Elisabeth had left behind and looked after her.

The lonely tear on Elisabeth's cheek was followed by tons of other tears.

Daphne had Josephine's fire and Andrew's honesty.

She had never admitted it, because the pain and her revenge had blinded her, but she missed them too with all her heart. The way she had hurt them, the emptiness a life without them had touched her, had hunted her since the last time she had seen them.

Finding her own beloved parents in her daughter's words and way she behaved, broke her heart into pieces. She felt a coward, obsessed by the senses of guilt for a war that had made her powerful, but lonely at the same time.

And in that very moment, for the first time in her life, right when her daughter was telling her that she had lost any right on her, Elisabeth understood what being a mother would have meant.

**I had Blair's files in my hands. Nicholas had put them into the envelope full of information against his uncle. The file fell on the floor while I was leafing through the papers. Only when I picked it up, I realized that I was holding medical reports and phone records which had nothing to do with Nicholas's uncle. I was tempted to read them, but destiny wanted that Chuck called me right in that moment. I felt guilty toward him, and the idea of someone else reading a file about me pissed me off. I took those papers and closed it into the safe, after hiding it between plenty of documents no one would have touched. I don't know why I didn't destroy them, but the few things I'd read, had worried me.**

He leaned on the wall in front of her door. He was trying to understand where she could be as she wasn't in her bedroom and Humphrey had left the hotel alone.

Then, half an hour later, she appeared at the end of the alley, shaken, absent, and probably just over a cry.

Chuck didn't like being able to read through all the features of her face when they showed sufferance.

He moved from the wall, in the anxiety to know what was going on with her. Seeing her that way had made him forget what he was doing there.

The Blair he knew would have complained about the lack of respect of their pact. "What the hell are you doing here Bass? Are you crazy? What if someone sees?" she would have said, looking around nervously, after hitting him somewhere.

The Blair he was standing in front of, instead, didn't even care about his presence. She was lost in her own world and pale like a ghost.

When she got closer and recognized him in the shadow of the alley, she pretended not to be surprised by his appearance or affected by his presence.

It didn't work with him. The way she had quickly moved away her eyes from his when she had seen him, had told him that she was hiding something from him.

"What happened Blair?" he asked her in alarm, making a few steps toward her.

He could sense a moment of indecision in her.

She was deciding what to do with him, if she had to let him in or out. The intensity of her gaze on him, gave him hope, but finally she glanced down at her hands. I was enough for him to understand that what she had, was too big for him, or that maybe she should have asked for someone else's help.

Those reasons tied a knot in Chuck's throat. He would have given anything not to see her that way, not to feel out of her life.

"Blair…" he urged her because feeling out of her thoughts scared him.

He slowly got closer, taking her hand in his own, while the other one was raising up her chin so that he could be able to look into her eyes and prevent her from taking him out.

However, when her eyes laid back into his, what he found, harassed him and made her look back down.

She was so close and so vulnerable that he just wanted to hold her in his arms and whisper to her that everything was going to be fine. But something stopped him. He didn't have the courage to do it, worried by the thought that if she would have rejected him there, he'd have lost the chance to stand by her side.

So Chuck Bass stood there and waited for a sign from her.

After a long moment of silence, she lifted her heard back, but her eyes suddenly focused on a specific spot.

She raised a hand to touch the wound of his eye, only to make him scream with pain.

"I told you that you had to place the ice on it!" she scolded him, moving away from him and opening the door of her room.

* * *

Maybe if he had told to the others, it would have been easier.

The beacons of his car could barely shine the deserted street in front of him and that woman lived in an isolated area like a mafia don.

It was late, almost midnight.

He knew that showing himself at someone's door so late in the night was rude, but his instinct had been more powerful than any rational thoughts.

He had been wrong on everything he had written about and that woman was the only one who can give him the true view on every missed details of the story. She was the guardian of the higher truth, the one who could bring the whole Harvey story into a new light. She could be the best way to restore the good opinion his friends and his family had on him.

The 500 took almost 30 minutes to reach Elisabeth's House gate. He almost believed that Chuck was right: that car was too slow and not that secure.

During the night, the villa looked mysterious and cold like its owner. Dan counted to 10 before opening the door and getting out of the car. He could do it, he kept on repeating in his head. He had to return the favor to Daphne and Blair who had trusted him, in spite of everything he had done to them.

He used all his strength to ring the bell. The housekeeper appeared a few minutes later, opening the door in her dressing gown.

"What do you want?" she asked perplexed, frowning at him. He could say that she had recognized him, but that didn't mean that she was pleased by his presence.

"I need to speak with Mrs. Harvey" he composed himself.

"Mrs is sleeping" she replied back.

Dan stood motionless. It was is only chance to talk to Elisabeth Evelyn Harvey: a win or die situation.

"Ok, look...I know it's late. Generally I don't visit anyone at this hour of the night, but I seriously need to talk to her. It's urgent…" The woman didn't make a move. His words haven't impressed her, so, as Blair had taught him many times during their schemes lessons, he had to charge the deal.

"It's about her kids" He didn't lie, but the woman looked still indifferent.

"They are in danger. It's a serious thing" He unashamedly lied to her, trying to repress the image of Chuck smirking in front of him in approval. He had to stay as far as possible from him. He was seriously risking a Bass contamination.

"Who do I have to announce?" the woman finally gave up.

"Daniel Humphrey"

* * *

He was waiting for her at the door frame, a hand on his eye and the other in his pocket.

Blair had disappeared into the little bathroom of her hotel bedroom to wash one of her foulard and she had come back with a nervous path.

She was running away from something and his wound was the best excuse she could use to avoid the subject.

When she got close to her bed, she turned her gaze toward him, who hadn't moved. He was still at the door, observing her. She giggled inside, thinking that the great Chuck Bass, was now shyly waiting for a sign from her to enter in her room.

"There was a time when you didn't ask the permission even to enter in the bedroom, Bass" she reminded him.

He deeply stared at her.

She was wearing a blue silk pajama, her hairs were uncombed and finding her in a room she would have never accepted in any other circumstance made him smirk. She was tempting him. He had never been able to resist her, but what she was hiding from him, was stopping him from having dirty thoughts about her.

"I'm a changed man now…" He slowly walked to her. Was he saying that to himself or to convince her that she could talk to him?

He needed to know what was consuming her so much. He didn't want to see that expression on her face anymore.

When he was close enough that just a few inches divided them, he looked into her eyes, trying to find a way to break her wall, but waiting, waiting for her to feel the need to tell him, to trust him.

So he let her making him sit on her bed. Without feeling ashamed, she got close to place the fresh watery foulard on his eye.

Paradoxically, Chuck didn't feel anything. No complains came out of his mouth.

Maybe it was because of her body pressed against his or her Chanel nr. 5 scent that was penetrating his nostrils, intoxicating him.

"It's the fourth time" she begun, leaning closer to take a better look of his eye. She made a face, it was really bad.

"What?" he asked confused.

"That you take a punch in my defense" she explained to him.

Chuck mumbled when she placed the foulard back without paying attention on the pressure of her hand.

"Is it that bad?" she asked with a smirk, knowing that he'd read a naughty proposal in her sentence.

He stiffened, showing her that she was right on that count.

She maliciously leaned closer to his eye again and blew on it, well aware of the fact that the contact of her breath on his skin was something he would have liked.

"Well you surely know you how to hurt…" he flirted with her with a voice so deep and low to quiver inside of her and his eyes drowned into hers, while his hands were placing on her hips to take her there on him.

Blair didn't protest, but his provocative sentence, got her in a very different way.

She immediately moved her eyes away and changed her mood.

Their little game was over and Chuck freed her from his hold.

"What's going on Blair?" he asked, exasperated by her ups and down.

It was not one her games, She just kept on appearing and disappearing from him every 5 minutes.

Her eyes went back on his.

She stood there in silence, looking back at him, while he was desperately searching for the answer in her eyes. Her heart was beating faster and her hands were softly caressing his face.

How she could say it to him? Was she ready to tell him? Was he ready to understand her?

"Blair… talk to me" he begged her, exhausted by her silence and scared by the distance she kept on creating between them. He knew that she was fighting herself to decide what to do. He could see it in her anguished eyes and in the way her body was trembling against his own.

It was only in that moment, following the path of his own hand caressing Blair's arm, that he saw the mess of her clothes, thrown everywhere.

His face suddenly changed into a worried expression, something that Blair sensed. She forced him to look back at her, but he didn't need an answer anymore.

Seeing her so lost had made him forget about the little pendant he had found in the car, the same one that had brought him there, waiting for her outside of her door. He hated knowing her so well.

His jealousy for that tiny piece of jewelry and the fear of losing her, faded away the moment his eyes laid back in hers. He slowly put the hand in his pocket and took out the cherub.

"Is this what you're looking for?" he showed it to her, opening his hand.

The expression of pure joy that suddenly pictured on her face consoled him and scared him at the same time.

His first thought was that she looked like a mother who had just welcomed back her lost child.

Blair took the pendant in her hand, smiling while a tear was running down her cheek.

There was an unconditional, eternal, unreachable love in the light that was shining in her eyes, looking at the cherub.

"Blair.." Chuck placed a hand on her cheek to caress it, craving to have her attention back. He could read gratitude, relief and something that he couldn't define in the big brown eyes that were looking at him.

"Thank you" she sweetly whispered to him with a happy and carefree smile. He had many questions in his head, but her happiness was the only thing that really cared in that moment.

It was a matter of a second before Chuck's lips were on hers, kissing her tenderly.

He loved her when she had that bright smile for him.

* * *

It had been different from that afternoon. It had been different from any other times.

Chuck innocently slept on his back. With is purple eye, he looked like her "masked hero".

That though made her giggle before laying back her eyes on her pendant that she had placed on her table, right next to Chuck. She stood motionless, moving her gaze from the pendant to Chuck, and then back from Chuck to her pendant.

He had brought her back her beloved memory. He had brought her back the gift she had deprived him of, a gift he didn't know he had given to her almost a year before.

Chuck and the foreign pendant which was more connected to him than what he could expect.

Blair closed her eyes, swallowing.

She could hear him, regularly breathing in and out, like a baby.

She started to tremble. Chuck Bass and their little cherub.

She cuddled, circling her legs to her chest, and rocking on herself.

The cherub held a past that Chuck didn't know about, a past that would have made him run away from her forever.

A slight Chuck's stretching, scared her.

What she would have done if he had found her like that? What she would have said to him? Because if there was something she knew about Chuck Bass, was that he would have asked her, and if she had avoided the subject, he would have searched for the truth on his own.

She panicked and jumped out of the bed.

He would have never forgiven her. How could he? If only he had known, he would have hated her for the rest of their life, he would have repudiated her from his heart.

She felt suffocating.

She couldn't lose him again, she selfishly thought. The only idea, made her feel like dying.

She slowly walked to the side of the bed where his head laid, to stare at his sleeping face. She loved him so much… It was something she couldn't deny anymore. What she felt for him, was even stronger and deeper than before.

Telling him the truth would have meant coming back to a life without him. She would have just found him back only to lose him forever.

Maybe she could have hidden it, kept it as a secret… She could have pretended it to be another gift from her father... She could have... She couldn't…

The memory of Elisabeth came to her mind.

It had been difficult for him to manage the encounter with his mother.

He had spent an entire life hoping that she was still alive and when he had found her alive, he had wished her dead.

Elisabeth, the person he should have trusted the most, had denied him such a lumbering truth, for so long that any explanation couldn't be enough to loosen the pain for her betrayal, for her abandon.

The sense of guilt hit Blair.

How could she still look at him in the eyes after that night? Tears were running down her cheeks.

She would have looked like his mother in his eyes… He would have stared at her with the same disgusted expression. She couldn't bare it…

She quickly dressed up, took the pendant and left the room in silence.

Running away was the only option that helped her feeling safe. Running away was the best choice for both of them.

* * *

The church was bare but impressed her because it was gigantic.

It took all her strength to walk in at that hour of the night. The darken Church was lightened only by the fire of the candles.

She wasn't used to that place, but she needed to be alone and think clear.

The meeting with her mother had been more difficult than what she had imagined and had left her with nothing. Elisabeth wanted to see Chuck, but she had refused to force him against his will, so she had stood up and left her mother for the second time.

It had been odd, meeting her mother the night before the anniversary of the death of her child.

Elisabeth had taken her hands in hers and said "I know what losing a child means".

Daphne had resisted to the urge of slapping her hard: Elisabeth had chosen to lose what she had, her own child's heart instead had stopped beating, before his tiny eyes could even see the light.

When she was back, she had looked for Nicholas and she had found him at the bar, drunk and surrounded by naked girls.

He would have never changed, she had always known it, but for the very first time, that view of him didn't shock her.

She was tired, so tired that she had stopped feeling anything for him. She wasn't jealous as well as she didn't feel cheated anymore by his behaviors.

She had learned how to stand on her own feet and how to fight every single day for her own self. And that new sensation told her, that deep inside of her, she would have bared his loss and moved on for real that time.

She slowly walked through the central ally of the Church. After a few more steps a sight of a familiar profile, seated and bent on a bench, came to her view.

Daphne quickened her path because she wasn't sure, but in the silence of the building, she thought she had heard a cry.

She made baby steps, slowly showing herself to Blair at the pale light of the candles, not to scare her.

Blair didn't react. She just allowed Daphne to take the seat next to her and waited for her to say anything, but Daphne kept quiet, looking straight in front of her.

* * *

Why was his sister going into an empty church in the middle of the night?

He was looking for Blair who had disappeared, only to see Daphne heading into that building.

Was she still shocked about Elisabeth? Or was she in pain at the dawn of the anniversary day of the death of her child?

Chuck followed her without hesitations.

* * *

"Why are you here?" Blair asked, realizing from Daphne's pale expression that she was as surprised as her by her presence in that place.

"It's 4 years today" Daphne confessed in that gravestone silence and staring at the cross on the altar in front of them.

Blair didn't reply, but closed her eyes. Chuck had told her that it was the anniversary of her baby's death. She cursed herself for asking it.

When Blair opened her eyes, she turned to stare at Daphne's featuring.

"I've never seen my baby, I've never held him in my arms. Did you know it?"

Blair nodded. She could imagine Daphne's pain, more than she could have ever desired.

"What happened after? I mean, after that.." she tried to ask her but her voice broke on the last words.

"I locked myself in my room for a month... I stood in bed alone and in the dark, like in this church..." While Daphne was remembering her past, a lonely tear had run down Blair's eye. She quickly rubbed it away.

"I didn't care about dying... I didn't care about anything anymore..." Daphne's face was relaxed.

Even if she was telling her such terrible things, the way she was taking about her mourning was peaceful, as she had built a religious place in her heart to live with that sorrow. Maybe she had just suffered so much to get used to it.

"The thing is, that Sometimes I feel dead this way" Daphne explained. "Living without my baby was enough moving, but hiding his own existence every single day of my life had slowly killed me"

Blair instinctively cuddled on herself. She knew that sensation pretty well.

"Waking up every day, moment of my life, as if she had never grown inside of me… I won't forgive myself for doing it…" It was only in that moment that Daphne laid her eyes on Blair who was forcing herself to breath in and out.

"What are you doing here Blair?" The fact that she was there, the way she was acting… Daphne got worried. One thing was clear: Blair had something which was due to other reasons.

Blair didn't speak and didn't move. She was too concentrated to control all the emotions which were crushing her.

Daphne took her hand maternally.

"These last few weeks must have been quite heavy for you... my grandmother, Chuck, my mother, all the articles about you,... my past..." Daphne tried to help her, trying to reason Blair's state in the easy way.

Blair still didn't reply, standing motionless like a statue, so Daphne decided not to insist anymore.

"She was a baby girl" Daphne smiled a little, coming back to her memories.

In her own world Blair was wondering how many times, Daphne had dreamed about her daughter, or imagined to spend her time with her. That thought made her sob.

"I never wanted to know her sex because I wanted it to be a surprise... Children are gift, right? Maybe at the beginning you don't expect them, but when you know that they are inside of you, you can't stop but love them with every fiber of your being".

Everything that Blair was uselessly trying to control, busted out like a river full of water. She tightened Daphne's hand so much to hurt her, while she was bending on herself, unable to suffocate her sobbing anymore.

"Blair.." Daphne's attention was back on her. Staring at her hand and feeling the way she was holding on to her hand, made her realize that whatever Blair was hiding, was destroying her from the inside.

"I didn't wanted to.." it was the only thing that Daphne could hear before turning completely toward Blair.

She was cuddled on herself, while rocking and liberating a cry. "I love him..." Blair looked in trance, with her cheeks watered by a river of tears.

"Blair?" Daphne leaned the other hand on Blair's shoulder to shake her, but she didn't react.

She simply kept on sobbing and mumbling disconnected things.

"I didn't know it..." Blair shook her head,.

"Blair…" Daphne got closer to take Blair's face in her hands and force her to look at her.

Blair sensed her presence and stared at her for a while. Her lips were trembling and her eyes were wide opened into hers even if the tears were keeping on pouring out down her doll face.

"I didn't know it was inside me... I didn't know it…" Blair shook her head almost to show to Daphne that she was telling the truth. The pain was too much that she closed her eyes, pushing Daphne to caress her cheeks and her hairs to calm her down, like a mother with her crying little child.

"Chuck won't ever forgive me.." Blair repeated twice, glancing down at their hands as she couldn't sustain Daphne's gaze.

Daphne had a terrible feeling.

She removed her hands from Blair's. Instinctively she thought back at the medical report she had accidentally found in her hands a few weeks before. They were inside of the envelope Nicholas had given her, to help Blair against his uncle.

Her sixth sense was telling her that the two things were connected.

"Why Chuck wouldn't forgive you?" she asked her without judgmental tones. She needed to know. "Blair..." she insisted, showing her that she could trust her.

"…He would forgive you anything, we both know it" Daphne was sure about it.

Chuck could be mad at her, do crazy things to show her how much he was mad at her, but in the end he would always come back to her, loving every part of her.

Blair shook her head in disagreement. Daphne felt a shiver down her spine. It was really as bad as she thought.

"Why not?" she asked to Blair in a whisper.

"Because I killed his child" Blair confessed divested.

Daphne felt it.

His brother had a son. His son was dead like her own daughter.

The way Blair was living her sorrow made Daphne's heard ache.

It was as she had never survived it, if she had never face it or share it with someone, as she had never talked about it, neither with her own self.

The thought that Blair could have hidden that excoriating pain and lived with it just in her own heart, lacerated Daphne.

She threw her arms around Blair and held her close, to let her know that she was there.

"It's ok" Daphne softly whispered to her, while she was continuously trembling and sobbing.

"I killed my baby" Blair cried out in a desperate lament.

Daphne took her face in her hands again, she cleaned her cheeks and removed her watery hairs form her face.

"Blair, listen to me..." she wanted that Blair heard it clear.

"Whatever happened, I'm sure, it was not your fault. It was not your fault, Blair"

At those words Blair fell into her embrace back, letting Daphne cuddled her like a child.

* * *

He was slowly falling to the floor, slipping down the pillar.

He had to impulsively ripped out the closest buttons of his shirt to his neck, to be able to breath, while his hands were uncontrollably trembling.

"I killed his child"

4 words that were running and twisting, reproducing over and over in his head.

If he had tried to say something, nothing would have come out of his mouth.

He couldn't move.

He couldn't hear anything but that 4 words that echoed in the absolute silence of his heart.

"I killed his child"

**They had stuffed me with downers to help me sleeping. I woke up 6 hours later. Even though, the medicines hadn't slowed down my head. I could still remember the doctor's expression when I had given birth to my child: the baby wasn't good.**

**My grandma took my hand and glanced down, trying to find a better way to tell me that my baby was gone, as a more polite sentence could have changed my agonizing pain.**

**When a child dies, a part of us dies too and there's no consolation able to fulfill that sense of emptiness. Never.**

**I sensed it, before she could say a word. A mother knows things first. I had understood it, waking up and feeling something missing.**

**I wanted to see my baby but they prevented me. It was better not, they told me. I didn't care what they were saying to me.**

**I ripped out the drip feeds, I hardly stood up, ignoring all the pains in my body and I walked out of my room looking for my baby. I wanted to see him, I wanted him to open her eyes and stay with me. I demanded it.**

**They blocked me and sedated me. While the medicine was forcing my eyes to close, I prayed it was just a dream. I prayed that I'd wake up later to lull my sweet child.**

**I just had to waken up later, to realize that something was still missing.**


	13. Chapter 13

A big thank for your reviews! I know that the previous chapter may have shocked you, but I promise it'll bring good things!

**Summery of chapter 12:**

- Chuck and the others find Elisabeth, but she doesn't help them  
- Both Chuck and Daphne are destroyed by the encounter, but they react in different ways. If Daphne comes back to Elisabeth to face her once and for all, Chuck realizes how much he still needs Blair in his life.  
- Blair, on her side, is desperately looking for a cherub pendant she had lost, while having sex with Chuck, and when Chuck gives it back to her, they make love again.  
- Scared by her new closeness to Chuck, Blair runs away and hides in a Church where she confesses to Daphne that she lost Chuck's baby while she was with Louis. She doesn't know that Chuck is listening to their conversation

**Chapter 13**

"**4"**

**Nicholas believed in his father's lies about me.**

**I've never slept with his cousin, who was just a good friend to me. I've never cheated the man I loved. How could I? I would have done anything for him, I loved him with all my heart.**

**Even if deep inside of him, he knew that I wasn't lying to him, he didn't even call me once. He spent his days sleeping with prostitutes and throwing it on my face. I, on myself, could armless assisted it, from the bed, where I was forced to stay, due to the complications of my pregnancy.**

**He wasn't there when I lost his baby. He couldn't put his pride apart even in the moment that matter to me the most, in the worst moment of my existence. The only message I received, proposed me and my family to hide the whole story to the press. It was signed by his father.**

He was gone. He had left the motel's room and had taken a private helicopter which had brought him as far away as possible from Texas, without even advising her.

Blair hadn't understood the reason why.

For a moment she had hated him for leaving her without any logical explanations, as he had done many years before, when she had waken up in her bed only to realize that he had left.

But her world had fallen on her when Nicholas had appeared at her door.

He had met Chuck while he was running away like a fury. He told her that he had uselessly tried to stop him and made him think clear, but when he had make fun of their car rendezvous, Chuck had turned toward him shouting: "She hid me my son! Can you believe it?"

In that very moment Blair's heart broke not just in two, but 3 pieces because she knew that he would have never forgiven her, that he would have never come back to her and that for Chuck, learning about it that way, had killed him even more than what had happened in his past.

He was gone, forever, from her, far away from her lies, from her betrayal, from the secret she had never been able to share with anyone except her own self.

And when he'd come back, he would have taken a revenge on her, without hesitations, without feeling pity for her.

How could she blame him? It was their nature and she deserved it.

She had cuddled on herself, feeling like a stranger in the same bedroom where just a few hours before they had shared their pure and unconditional love, the same that got her pregnant.

Lying alone on that bed, Blair was welcoming their defunct future, which was lost and gone forever. That thought hurt her so much, that nothing mattered anymore.

Chuck had heard her confession, coming out of her own mouth. He had followed Daphne, worried for his sister's mood, only to bump in Blair's secret.

"I killed his child"

Blair counted to 100, to hold back her tears, to avoid the image of her, talking to Daphne and Chuck listening from behind a pillar.

When Nicholas had finished, repeating Chuck's last words "Blair Waldorf is dead to me", Daphne's strong and soft arms were on her, hugging her while she instinctively curled up on herself, reminding her that she was still alive, even if she was rushing in the abyss of desperation.

"Blair Waldorf is dead"

Those 4 words defined the end of Chuck and Blair, Blair and Chuck.

She knew what it meant to him. His father and his mother were dead too in his heart, and together with them a part of him had died too. She knew it because she had been the one to cure his heart, who had helped him to survive it.

But this time she was the one who had stabbed him in the back.

* * *

"How is she?" Eleanor sat on the sofa of her penthouse.

"She doesn't eat" Serena informed her, taking the seat in front of Blair's mother.

"We need to call a doctor"

"I do not think doctor is necessary" Dorota interfered into the conversation.

"Do we know why she's like this, at least?" Eleanor exploded. She was exhausted. Her daughter had been locked in her room for 4 days, crying, refusing food and sleeping all the time.

"She no speak to anyone" Dorota said, looking at Serena, well aware that she knew everything too, but they both should have omitted it to Eleanor.

"She has to speak with someone. I'll let her do it, even if I had to call a psychologist" Eleanor complained. Her worry over Blair was getting to her head.

"I think we should give her the time she needs" Serena suggested, trying to make her think.

"My daughter hasn't eat or spoken since she had come back home from Texas. She hasn't changed her dressing gown in days and anyone can't open the curtains in her room. This can't be one of her tantrums". Eleanor sufferance was showing up. She couldn't stay there watching Blair so desperate. She couldn't bare it.

Serena glanced down at the floor. Together with Daphne, she had tried to help Blair getting out of that state but everything had been useless. Blair didn't react.

"Maybe we're just pressuring her too much…" She admitted more to self than to Eleanor. Maybe they were all insisting too much. Maybe they just have to give her some space, to sort her things out.

"I know who's the responsible! But this time I won't stay here with my hands in my pockets" Eleanor voice raised with seriousness.

"Chuck has nothing to do with this" Serena defended him in a protective tone. She has been looking for him for days. He had never answered her calls or her texts. She was really worried about him.

"Whenever my daughter is in this kind of conditions, he's always something to do with it" Eleanor couldn't help but thinking back at all the precedents.

"We're all shaken, but Chuck has nothing to do this time" Serena didn't hold back. He was her brother after all and a friend who had always protected her when she needed.

" and, in spite of everything you can suppose, Eleanor, he's the only one who can really help Blair now"

"That boy won't get near my daughter until I'll find out the truth. Am I clear?" Eleanor warned the two women in front of her, before standing up and walking to Blair's room.

Serena shook her head. Eleanor wouldn't have achieved anything, as always. She would have knocked 3 times at her door, raising her insistence at every bang, only to renounce at the fourth time.

* * *

It was the fourth fail.

4 like the punches he had taken because of her.

4 like the women he had brought to his suite not to feel anything.

4 like the times he had destroyed his hotel room as that sentence had harassed him all over again.

4 were the years during which she had stolen every fibre of his being.

4 were the only seconds he was able to remove her image from his mind, before she was back to dull it.

4 were the days which had passed from her confession.

4 were the hours he had been able to sleep in 4 days.

He stood up from the bed, without caring to unzip his pants.

"We can try another position" the prostitute number 4 chirped form the bed.

He didn't pay attention to her. He walked to the bar and poured himself a glass of scotch and took a seat next to the little table, running his hand through his hairs.

He was shaken, exhausted, angry as hell. Every part of his body hurt and he was unable to control himself.

The girl walked to him, wearing just the garter. No man in the whole world would have resisted, but he looked at her as if she wasn't there, naked in front of him.

She didn't give up. She sat astride on him and started licking his neck.

He stood impassive while his body didn't react. He couldn't feel anything.

"Maybe you should take out your shirt" she suggested. It was going to be harder than usual. It stressed her.

She begun to unbutton his shirt up from his collar, slowly revealing his chest. He let her do it without moving an inch of feeling any kind of desire raising up inside of him.

She had been with many men, but that boy was different. There was such a sorrow inside of him, such a desperation that broke her heart. Something obsessed him and blocked him from the inside.

Moved by a sense of pity, she tried to caress his chest with tenderness, but his hands were immediately on hers to block her and push her away. The firm way he was putting the distance between their bodies, saying to her that she had crossed the line, frightened her.

"I don't..." she tried to speak, realising how much he was broken. She had made a wrong step and it was something he hadn't appreciated at all.

"Leave" he ordered her, with an authoritative tone.

Even if he was looking straight into her eyes, she felt like invisible to him. She didn't need to be repeated twice. She run into the bedroom, zipped up her dress and left his suite, not caring about the money he owed her, even if they hadn't settled.

Chuck leaned against the chair's back, placing his right hand on his chest. He started to breath in and out while his eyes were filling with tears.

4 days before, her head had lied right there on his chest, sleeping peacefully in his arms.

4 had been the times she had murmured his name in her sleep, smiling happily and pulling him closer.

4 were the kids he had always secretly desired to have with her.

4 were the words that had destroyed his family dream.

"I killed his child"

* * *

"They proposed us a sort of talk show where we'll seat on a sofa and we'll answer many questions about our past and our families. No states, but something intimate."

"Like Diana's interview when she confessed her secrets?" Dan was thinking out loud. Nicholas gave him a once over.

"I forgot about Cabbage Patch" he ironically commented.

"How do you know it?" Dan looked embarrassed. Did Chuck had told him?

"Believe me Humphrey, the file about you, is really interesting" Nicholas was really impressed by what he had read about Dan.

"Which file? … Do You have a file on me?" Dan asked, shocked by Nicholas revelation.

"Don't tell me, you didn't expect it? We all know everything about everyone". There was a sort of omnipotence in Nicholas's words that scared Dan.

"I want that file" Dan demanded.

"And take away from me the satisfaction of reading your "space age", a night of sex with Blair Waldorf? Do you really think that people will find it believable?" Dan's face paled in front of Nicholas amused expression.

"If you don't wanna be reported, you'd better give me that file" Dan threatened him, pretending not to fear him.

Nicholas didn't laugh. He stared back at him, coldly in the eyes. He was authoritative and impassive like his own father.

"Rules are mine" he reminded to Dan, picturing a smirk. "Do not forget it! You may be a moralist, but I don't care less about that sort of things"

Dan was shocked by the level of arrogance Nicholas could reach. He acted as if he was ruling the whole world and everyone stood lower than him.

"If I were you I wouldn't even provoke me Humphrey... If Blair Waldorf read that piece of paper, she wouldn't passionately defend you or be so willing to watch some random movie on your sofa, anymore"

"She doesn't have to know" Dan stated.

"Look... There's something we agree on" Nicholas nodded. "Especially now that Blair needs her real friends by her side" Nicholas underlined, hoping that his hint could be clear enough.

Dan swallowed. He had visited her but she didn't want to see him. He felt an outsider again, which really hurt him.

* * *

"Good evening Mr. Harvey, Miss. Harvey." Dorota welcomed them at the entrance of the Waldorf apartment.

"Good evening you too, Dorota" Daphne smiled to her.

"How is she?" Mr. Harvey suddenly asked her.

"She still no eat and no speak" Dorota sighed in resignation, lowering his gaze and shaking her head.

The grandfather stepped toward her and placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

"She's strong, she's gonna recover very soon" he reassured her. They needed to have faith, everything was going to be ok, he was sure about it.

"Andrew" Eleanor's voice called after him.

"Eleanor" he replied, handing his trench to Dorota and moving to the living room to meet her.

"Dorota's already told me that nothing has changed... if only we could so something..." Mr. Harvey shacked hands with Eleanor, explaining her his own worries.

"Actually, Andrew, I think there's something you can do" Eleanor replied, before realising that Daphne was walking in behind him.

"Daphne, my dear would you like to keep Blair company for a while?" she asked, changing her mood, which was something the grandfather couldn't help but notice. Whatever she needed was something she didn't wanted to share with anyone else.

"Of course" Daphne accepted it, quickly climbing up the stairs.

"It's about Charles, right?" The grandfather anticipated Eleanor when Daphne was out of sight and they were still standing in the middle of the room.

He had the cunning of a long business career, but Eleanor wasn't intimidated by him.

"Where is he?" she directly asked him.

"Gone" he blurry replied.

"Come on Andrew, I'm sure you know where I can find him"

"Not at home" he quickly replied to her. It was clear that he wasn't going to tell her anything.

"Look, Andrew, how long have you been knowing Charles? 6 months?" Eleanor changed her strategy.

"A year since I found out we're relatives, but I've known him for years before. Since he was 15 I guess" he remembered placidly, taking a seat on the sofa.

He knew how much Eleanor was worried, as well as he knew what she had in mind, but he would have never delivered her, his own nephew's head on a silver tray.

"My daughter and your nephew had a very twisted relationship... something painful and very unconventional"

"I'd rather call it love" he corrected her.

"Don't misunderstand me Andrew... I know exactly how much they have loved each other, but my daughter had already paid enough because of Chuck's mistakes"

"Eleanor, if what you wanna know is what Chuck has done this time, I'm sorry to tell you that I don't know it. Besides, I wouldn't tell you even if I knew it"

"I'm sure it won't surprise you, knowing that I don't believe you" she wasn't backing down.

"Eleanor, if there something you wanna ask me, then do it" He reached the main point. Eleanor went pale.

"Keeping secrets from you Andrew, seems to be impossible…" she commented between her teeth.

"I'm an old businessman at dusk, I can read my interlocutors' mind before they speaks"

"Right" Eleanor bit the bullet.

"I know that you'll do anything for you daughter, as I consider you a good mother" he explained to her, with a warm and reassuring voice. "I also know that in the past, Charles has not represented the boyfriend a mother would have liked to have as son in law. I have lived that too, in my own life, I know what it means" Eleanor lowered her gaze, thinking back at what Blair had told her about Daphne and Chuck's mother.

"So… I don't know what happened in Texas, and, despite how much I'm worried for Chuck and Blair, I won't violate their reserve"

"Are you saying that you'll let them destroy each other, all over again?" Eleanor retorted to him, unable to break the wall she had in front of her eyes and that blinded her.

"This…" The man took out an envelope from his jacket and showed it to her. "… is a file I found in my safety. Nicholas gave it to Daphne weeks ago, but we refused to read it. Maybe it can help you in finding what you're looking for..." Eleanor looked at the envelope.

If on the one hand, knowing that they had a file on her daughter, infuriated her, on the other hand, she couldn't understand why they hadn't read it.

However the transparency he had talked to her with, gave her the impression that he wasn't lying.

She fixed the envelope that he was placing on the table. It was her apple, she just had to decide if tasting it and knowing, or resisting and waiting for the answers to come on their own.

"When I called you, you already knew the reason why... Right?" she stated in admiration.

"The fact that you wanted to have a word with me, without Cyrus here, made me think" he said ironically, with a tiny smile.

Eleanor, instead, was still looking at the envelope. She didn't know what to do: following her mind or her instinct? Andrew who was staring at her from the other sofa, noticed it.

"May I give you a tip, Eleanor?" he felt free to try. "Sometime we use the easy means to look for the answers we desperately need to have, just because we're scared to be left out from the people we love so much… The thing is, it blinds us and we can't realize that if we only had a little bit more of patience and trust in them, we could have them just with the right question... Don't do the same mistakes I made. You've raised an amazing daughter, give her the time she needs and when she'll feel ready, she'll open her heart to you"

* * *

"Serena"

"Ehy" the blonde closed Blair's door behind her and welcomed Daphne.

"Dorota told me everything"

"She doesn't speak to me… It's never happened before…" Serena was almost crying. Everything was so painful.

"She just needs time"

"I've never seen her like this… What can I do for her?" Serena leaned against the wall of the alley.

"You must be strong"

It could have lookedweird, but when she had closed herself in her room, after the loss of her own baby, and she didn't want to talk to anyone, she knew that her grandparents were behind that door, waiting for a sign from her.

It wasn't much, but it was more than what anyone could have thought.

"Chuck?" Serena asked with a worried expression.

"Yesterday he was in Manila. Nate had spoken to a prostitute he was with. She was scared for him..." Daphne paused, deciding what to say then.

"And?" Serena wanted to hear the rest.

"He destroyed his hotel room" she whispered.

Serena threw her head in her hands.

"There was a time when Blair was his compass" she shook her head, with her eyes full of tears. She knew that their love was a chaos, but she didn't expect something like that.

"He lost her, he can't find himself" Daphne stated as if it was a matter of a fact.

"I suppose, It's better if Blair doesn't know it" she suggested. It was for Blair's best.

"She knows him better than all of us. She knows it already" Daphne specified, with a sad face.

"Did you know that he tried to kill himself, many years ago? She was the one who saved him"

Daphne nodded, she knew it. She was his compass, quoting Serena.

"This time she's not there" Serena stated, letting her fears come to the surface.

Daphne sat on the floor right in front of Serena, cuddling on herself.

"My PI is following him. Yesterday night he took a plane for Singapore. We'll find him" she informed Serena. Even if she tried to look fine, she was really worried for Chuck. He was alone facing his pain, she knew what it meant.

Serena nodded, taking a long deep breath. Her mother was looking for him too, using all the means she had. They would have found him, she needed to believe it.

They both sat there at the pale light of the alley, waiting in silence.

They didn't know that Blair had heard everything, hidden behind the door.

"He had destroyed his hotel room" those words were twisting inside her head.

She cuddled on the floor with her head against the door and her legs tight on her chest.

* * *

He lied on the ground. His arms ached and the motorbike had jumped far from him. The helmet was so narrow that he felt like suffocating.

She was still there, with him, deep inside of him, around him.

He had found her in his dreams and his nightmares. So he had taken every kind of drugs not to sleep anymore, but she had started to twist in his room, out of his window, on the sidewalks.

He had jumped into the cold poll of his hotel from the balcony, whishing not to find her there, but after 4 seconds of apnoea she had appeared like the mermaid of the legends and beautifully lightened like a Greek goodness.

Then he had locked himself in his room, laying in his bed with the curtains closed and the intention to watch some random porn to clear his pipes, but the only movies he had found talked about children.

4 damn channels with fathers and their kids at the park.

4 damn life moments he would have never had because his child died, he had never seen the light, because until 4 days before, he didn't even know that he had existed inside of her.

So he had opted for a trip on a Suzuki motorbike.

He had caressed it, trying to avoid any similarities with the one, parked in his living room, the one where he had found her on, just wearing his favourite Black lace La Perla's lingerie.

He had never loved that motorbike so much as it happened that day. And right when he was trying not to remember it, she was right there, in front of him, straining at his hairs, holding his body closer to hers, crying out his name with pleasure.

He had changed the motorbike. He chose a red Yamaha, red like the blood that was boiling in his own veins. Red like the dress she wore at the train station in Paring, telling him that she didn't love him anymore, lying to him. He was sure that he wouldn't have found her there.

He was wrong.

She was on every cars he encountered, on every building, on every tree, behind every corner, on the tarmac where he drove at lightening speed.

The more he saw her, the more he hastened to run away from her.

More and more.

And when he had the illusion of a victory and took a deep breath, he heard a loud cry of an infant.

Chuck had closed his eyes for a moment, waiting for it to end.

Everything happened in a moment.

He'd opened his eyes back and a car was coming right against him.

4 were the horn's sounds he had heard before the crash.

**I've always wondered how could I forgive someone for something so bad. Due to my distrust It's always been difficult to me let someone back in after cheating on me.**

**I've never forgiven my mother for what she had done to me, to my family and to my brother. I don't feel ashamed about it.**

**I've always been sure that I'd never forgiven Nicholas too. I was wrong on that count.**

**I can't remember what happened to me, I just know that there was a moment when I stopped thinking about my pain and I realized that I didn't feel hate for him anymore.**

"Miss Blair.." Dorota was standing at her door with a drawn smile, in the faint hope that it could have been the right time. She received no reply, instead.

Blair looked at her, then took a look of the figure behind her and turned her gaze back outside of the window, staring at the clouds in the sky.

Dorota didn't give up. Blair had allowed her to open the curtain for the first time in 4 days. It was a good start at least. Baby steps.

"Mr Daniel is here to see you" she announced while Dan was placing his hand on her shoulder to support her.

Dorota turned to him, nodding to thank him and in a few seconds she was gone, leaving him alone with Blair.

Dan stared at the weak girl in front of him.

He didn't know how to behave. She lied on her bed, with a pale and expressionless face, the hair uncombed by the pillows and an empty look in her eyes that made her look lost and older.

"There's a Schindler's list renun in Brooklyn" he spoke waiting for an answer.

Blair laid her eyes on him with a lapidary gaze, shocking him, by the desperation he could read though them.

She looked dead, empty, listless. Her shining light and her malicious smile weren't there anymore.

"Maybe, something less dramatic could be better. How about Bringing up baby?" he proposed.

She kept on staring at him without showing any kind of reactions. Her gaze was like ice: cold, unemotional, detached.

He tried again.

"If I'm not mistaken, you love when they look for the bone, the dog had hidden in the garden" he reminded her to captivate her attention. And something happened.

Blair surprisingly sat up, slowly moved the covers apart and stood up.

She maintained that position for a few seconds to find the balance.

Dan was silently observing the scene from behind her back, waiting for a sign to move and help her, but she didn't speak.

When she felt strong enough, she walked to her bathroom and closed the door behind her as if he wasn't there.

* * *

"I received a call from a hospital in the Philippines. He's been there"

Daphne let herself fall on the Waldorf's sofa. Her hands started trembling. She couldn't say a word, but praying deep inside of her that he was fine.

"That great mother fucker has almost crashed a car wrong way with his motorbike and he's still alive! Can you believe it?" Nicholas explained to her on the other line of the phone. He sounded amazed by the news, as he was speaking about a superhero.

At those words Daphne breathed out and sobbed. That made Nicholas change his tone.

"Don't worry baby, I don't know how, but he avoided the car and fell on the ground... Who was there said he'd been a miraculous survivor"

"How bad is he?" She quickly asked him, without hiding her anger for her bother's recklessness. He could have died in the other side of the planet!

"He's completely fine! Just a few scratches but nothing serious! The couple of elders who was driving the car, had brought him to the hospital for a check up, but he was good"

"I'll go to pick him up" Daphne stood up, ready to clean that mess once and for all. Even if her anger was giving her enough strength to take the first plane and find Chuck, she could still feel her legs weak through.

"Don't borther! He's not there anymore"

A shiver of anger ran down Daphne's spine. She couldn't believe it.

"Tell me he hasn't signed the discharge papers" she looked black.

"He's on a plane to Norway. He didn't even go back to his suite to collect his things" Nicholas explained it as if it was normal to do to him.

"Give me a single reason why I shouldn't get on the first plane and slap him hard" she begged him, trembling like a leaf.

"He lost a child he had never known the existence of. He needs his time" Nicholas seemed sure about it, but Daphne wasn't.

"We have already given him too much time" she worried specified.

"This time is different and you know it"

"He had almost killed himself! How can you say it?" Daphne disagreed.

"Because he's not me" Nicholas finally admitted taking her back.

That mess was destroying her. It was as the tiny line which divided her own past with Nicholas from her brother's story with Blair had disappeared.

She was asking Chuck, to act the way she had wanted Nicholas toward her and the fact that Nicholas didn't understand it, really scared her.

"I should go"

"Daphne, leave him in peace. It's their story" Nicholas could say before she switched off the call.

"Nate.." She suddenly called him.

"Have you heard something new?

"Take the first plane to Norway. He's heading there"

She couldn't bare the fact that her brother was ruining everything he had.

She couldn't bare it.

* * *

He threw himself on the big coach of the living room.

During that period of the year the huge Portofino's house was empty and the fresh wind of fall coming form the park, seemed to calm him down.

He looked around, feeling the warmness of that house, where he had only been a few times before.

He remembered the lasagne his grandmother had cooked for him; Daphne wearing a two size bigger tracksuit sitting on the same sofa and reading Marie Claire with her little dogs at her feet; his uncle at the desk, filling medical reports wearing a pair of glasses as big as half of his face, and the grandfather, concentrated on a chess game with the intention to win against him.

Scenes of a routine, of his family, the same kind of family he had always wanted to give to his own kids.

A knot born in his throat, but a sound of a little giggle distracted him from his thoughts.

Was he not alone?

Another sound of a little smirk got his attention from the end of the sofa. Only a baby could have smirked like that, Chuck thought.

He sat up, trying to understand if the little sounds that had hunted him for days were still there, or if there was someone else in the house.

The silence fell again.

He glanced down at the carpet, running his hands all over his face.

It should have been the nth illusion.

He couldn't sleep because every time he had tried to close his eyes, all the images he wanted to repress were chasing after him: him and Blair, a big Christmas tree, a fire and a little man with a little bowtie, climbing on his shoulders and calling him daddy.

In that very moment he heard a sneeze, tiny, but as loud as much to echo in the room.

Chuck stood up, unable to comprehend how much those hallucinations were getting worse.

Then a second sneeze.

Chuck's gaze fell on a drawer who lied next to the sofa.

He nervously acted like a mad man and opened the drawer to find the object of his agony.

A little baby laid his deep big blue eyes into Chuck's and offered him a gap toothed smile.

Chuck felt like dying. He was going crazy.

He quickly chucked the door in front of the baby and run away in the park.

* * *

Eleanor sat on the big chair of her office.

40 pages on her daughter's life, from medical and phone reports to her secret, were in front of her. 40 pages on Blair's last 4 years, a life she thought to have knowledge of but she didn't know anything about, instead.

She swallowed the entire glass of Martini in one shot.

Her daughter had lost a child, Chuck Bass' child.

The medical report talked about serious complications due to her bulimia, which the doctors collocated back, during her engagement with Prince Louis Grimaldi.

Eleanor tore off one paper and threw it as far as possible from herself.

It was not Chuck Bass' fault. Not the man who had sold her out for an hotel, the one who had hurt her too many times, fault. It wasn't his fault.

Blair had hurt herself while she was with Louis, the innocent looking guy who gave her peonies everyday and bought her royal diamonds necklace at any public appereance. Louis was the prince charming, who was making her live her own real fairytale.

When Serena opened the door of the office, Eleanor was pouring down a second glass.

"Eleanor?" she called her, collecting the piece of paper from the floor.

Eleanor didn't reply but stood up to walk to and fro.

"You knew it, right?" Blair's mother asked her. She was anxious.

Serena took a brief look at the paper and realized.

"Did you spied on Blair?" Serena accused Eleanor, pissed by her behaviour.

"She's my daughter, I can do whatever I want" Eleanor instinctively replied back to her. The last thing she needed was a telling off from a girl who had humiliated her daughter many times when they were at war.

"Does it really allow you to do her business?" Serena couldn't hold back her annoyance.

"I should have done it long before! At least we would have avoided the scandals that will ruin our family name forever!" Eleanor was so mad that she couldn't think clear.

Serena stared at her with a confused expression. She knew how Eleanor's word could hurt, because she had lived the same with her own mother, many times.

"You're right, mother" Blair's voice came from the shadow, surprising both of them.

"I would have spared you all the shame" She was sarcastically controlling her feelings, staring at her mother from a corner where the shadow was hiding her.

"Are you still doing it?" Eleanor asked her directly, turning to look at her.

Blair, who was wearing the same dressing gown and who was standing there on the cold floor on her bare feet, looked like a ghost, taking a step under the light to appear to them.

"Are you asking me if I still throw my fingers in my throat to accomplish yours or Louis's mother desire?"

Blair way to reply to her, made Eleanor paling.

"Can you be serious Blair? It's your life we are talking about!" Eleanor admonished her.

Eleanor stiff glare showed to Serena that she was really taken aback by the news.

Blair realized it too. She glanced down.

"I stopped when I killed my baby" Blair whispered, unable to prevent those words from leaving her mouth.

Eleanor closed her eyes while the heaviness of the truth filled her.

Serena got close to Blair and embraced her fearing that she could break at any time.

"Just tell me why…" her mother asked, in a desperate attempt to have a good reason to hold on to, because finding out that she had been sick again, had been a cold shower to her.

When she had found out about her bulimia's problems, at 15, she had taken all the blames for been always far away from home, for been too taken by her own success, for been cheated by her husband. She had been one of the main reasons of her daughter's illness.

"Because...because I was blind mother" Blair collected all her strenghts to finally speak about it.

"I wanted so desperately to be perfect that I would have done anything not to lose it" Blair disdain for herself was clear in her tone of voice. She disgusted herself for doing it, for being that selfish and childish to risk her own life again.

"Don't say it…" Serena caressed her shoulders to make her feel safe and protected.

"It's the truth Serena" Blair raised her voice. She had enough of all the people telling her what to do or what to say.

"... I thought that being happy meant being a princess, being the object of everyone's attention... being like you Serena" she confessed staring at her best friend. "I should have been taller, blonder, more shining, more cheerful… I always failed, I was never enough…"

Eleanor took a seat on the sofa, her legs were weak and her head was exploding.

"...The sadly truth is that I woke up every morning, staring at me in the mirror, I couldn't recognize me anymore..." Blair took a long deep breath. She was shaken, that made Serena tightening her embrace.

"That wasn't me… Louis was good with me, but he couldn't see the real me… And maybe I chose him because I didn't want to be me at first…"

"You said you loved him" her mother stated, reminding her all the phone conversations they had during all those months. She was happy, she kept on saying that he was perfect, that she couldn't wish anything better, that they were in love.

Blair fixed her with an illegible expression.

"I was pretending that everything was right and I lied to him for so long... I've never felt so empty and lonely as when I was with him..." she admitted for the very fist time.

"Don't be too melodramatic Blair. You had everything you wanted. You're talking this way because you lost it after a night with Charles"

"I had everything I desired for years mother, but it wasn't what I really needed"

"When have you started again?" Eleanor asked her, standing up and focusing back on the issue that scared her the most.

"You should know it, or your PI has not been so meticulous?" Blair got furious.

She knew that her mother wasn't going to understand her. She could feel it. She needed those answers to find a reason to find a culprit which was not her.

"Stop acting like a child Blair! I'm your mother, I have the right to know what you're doing with your own self! You could have died!" That sentence hit Blair, deep inside.

She lowered her gaze and softly touched her belly, then looked back at her mother.

Being a mother…

"And I won't know anything about my baby... I killed him..." She whispered while the tears started running down her cheeks. That loss had signed her from the inside. She wanted that baby, she loved that baby, she would have done anything to come back and save him.

In that very moment Eleanor saw her daughter's sorrow.

She had been wrong. Blair really believed to have killed Chuck's baby, she felt guilty about it. She really didn't give a fuck about Louis and his realm. They had destroyed her real happiness, which laid in her heart and her belly.

She wanted Chuck, and losing his baby was something she couldn't bare. It was like losing Chuck all over again, like losing her own self.

She quickly walked to Blair and took her hands into hers own. Serena was rubbing Blair's back to comfort her.

"Blair, it's not you fault, you just lost it" Eleanor reassured her.

Her mother's words leaded Blair to draw her gaze in her mother's eyes. She desperately needed to believe it.

"I didn't know it was there..." she reasoned, shaking her head.

"Bair, you didn't kill your baby" Her mother placed her hands on her cheeks and forced her to hear her, while she was repeating it with sweetness.

"I would have never hurt myself if I knew it…" Blair explained. She had hated herself for what she had done to herself.

"It wasn't your fault Blair, It wasn't" Eleanor pulled her closer and hugged her.

* * *

"Charles!" His grandmother saw him from the house. He was nervously walking in the park fixing the ground.

When Chuck heard her voice he lifted up his head. He didn't expect her there.

Even if he didn't want to see anyone, when their eyes met he finally felt relief.

In the loneliness of those days, finding her there, made him fall.

He run into her embrace. It was warm and maternal. He let her hold him close, unable to free himself from the agony that was torturing him and killing him slowly.

"It's ok" she reassured him, caressing his head.

Chuck Bass had cried 3 times in his life. When his father told him that he had killed his mother; when his father died, leaving him alone without his acceptance; and when his mother, who wasn't dead because of him, abandoned him for the second time.

In that moment, tighten in the arms of his family, Chuck Bass couldn't help but crying.

He cried because he had never held his own child; because he had never faced that sorrow with the woman he loved; because, in spite of all, he had never missed her so much in his entire life like in that very moment; because, he couldn't believe that she had killed their baby and the fact that she believed it destroyed him.

In front of the family name's tree, so loved by his grandfather, it was the fourth time that Chuck Bass cried.

* * *

"I've heard that you told Eleanor what happened…"Daphne sat on the bed next to Blair.

"It wasn't such a free will sharing" Blair specified. However, after spending months hiding the truth from everyone, she was feeling a little bit better.

"She was really worried about you" Daphne informed Blair before opening her Ulysses book and abstract herself from the whole world.

With Daphne, Blair found it easy to talk.

She wasn't pressing or oppressive. She came to visit her 4 times a day. She usually entered her room, opened the curtains and then sat next to her, reading a book. Sometimes she didn't even talk to her, forcing her like any others. She was simply there.

Nate, on the contrary, for example, had forced her to play to the wii with him. If she wasn't so weak she would have killed him with her own hands.

"Right" she agreed coming back to her silence mood for the next hour, biting her lips to find the courage to ask Daphne what she needed to know.

"Is he still in Singapore?" she questioned at one point, well aware of the fact that Daphne would have understood that she had spied her conversation with Serena. But Daphne didn't get upset. She changed the page of her book and replied.

"Mister Disappearance, had tried to fool me, making me believe that he was in Norway, but right now, he's in Liguria with the grandma. He's still such a beginner. I sent her there, obviously!"

Blair felt some sort of relief. He was fine and most of all he was not alone. However she could read a little bit of anger in Daphne's tone of voice beyond the note of pride.

"How bad is he?" Blair asked getting straight to the main point.

Daphne raised her gaze, surprised by the speed of Blair's capability to understand the problem without even had specific clues. Daphne tried to use her normal expression not to worry her but Blair anticipated her again.

"Please, spare me that expression. He usually does it when he's lying"

"He fell from a motorbike, but he's fine" Blair face paled. She turned to stare at the grey sky outside of her window.

"Blair..." Daphne called her "I know that it's not enough, but our grandma is with him. He really is ok now" Daphne took her hand and tight.

Blair nodded, stopping the tears that were always there, ready to come out.

They stood like that for half an hour.

"It's late I have to go" Daphne communicated at one point.

"Already?"

"I have to walk out the dogs as the grandpa and the uncle are both out of town for business and the grandma is with Chuck" she explained, while she was starting a call on her phone.

"Ramiro, bring the car... ah... and please, remind the two macaroones boxes..." she was talking out loud looking at Blair with the corner of her eyes. "No, the ones in the Hermes bag... Yeah the light blue one... Exactly! I'll wait for you downstairs" Daphne ended the call, brought her coat and greeted her with a wink.

An hour later when Blair stood up from her bed, noticed an Hermes bag placed next to her desk. When she opened it, she found the two boxes full of macaroones, and remembered Daphne's call.

She couldn't help but smile.

* * *

He slowly opened the door. The curtains were still open and the smell of an enclosed place hit his nose.

Without making noises, he walked into the room.

He was there because he needed to see her.

He had sensed that something wasn't good because no one had told him anything about her. When he had finally switched on his phone after 4 days, he had been overwhelmed by the thousand calls from Serena, Nate, Daphne, Nicholas, Lily... but in their messages there never was a single hint about Blair.

His grandmother's didn't speak about her too. That omission worried him more than any possible mentions, so he had taken the first plane home, gripped by the fear all the travel long.

Chuck didn't know if he had already forgiven her but he just needed to see her for a few seconds in her sleeping, to check if she was fine.

She was not in her bed.

He made a few more steps and found her, lied on the floor, surrounded by macaroones and cuddled in a fetal position.

She was wearing his old dolphin's sweater with her first closed on the heart pin she had sewn on the sleeve during the summer of his love confession.

She was pale, even more thin than he remembered. Her face was swollen, signed by the tears and the sleepless nights. Chuck's heart broke.

He slowly leaned closer to lift her up and place her in her bed, but he woke her up instead.

Blair stood motionless, opening her eyes into his own, unable to find the words to communicate with him.

He was there, back to her, but she feared his possible negative reactions.

He had a pale and haggard face as hers, hairs uncombed. He hadn't shaved and he was wearing pleated clothes that he probably hadn't changed in days.

She felt the need to hug him, and hold him close to her.

"I'm putting you on the bed" he explained with a deep warm voice, while his hands were travelling up to remove her hairs from her face.

She closed her eyes at the contact. She had though she had lost him forever…

She felt like coming to life for the second time, because he was there, looking into her eyes without shaded of anger, but showing her his own fragilities instead.

He was collecting her like a spoon, his eyes never leaving hers.

Moved by the softness of his gaze, she raised her hands and placed them on his cheeks to caress it.

Chuck's soul always spoke to her with his eyes. He didn't need words to confess her how he felt, he just had to look at her and let her in, let her get lost in his real self.

What Blair was reading through them was the same sorrow, the same need to be saved she was feeling inside of her.

He was shouting that he needed her, that he wasn't able to reject her anymore, that he didn't want to anymore. Her heart melted and a new kind of peace filled her.

"You're back.." she softly whispered, almost scared to realize the real meaning of those words: you forgave me, you still want me, you don't hate me for what I've done to you, you're fighting for us.

Chuck silently and deeply stared at her. That way they could communicate with each other it still scared him and surprised him at the same time. He leaned his forehead against her and closed his eyes, breathing in her scent.

"Chuck.. I..." transported by her emotions she closed her eyes to and felt the need to apologize.

He shut her up, placing a finger on her mouth. He already knew everything.

He had done anything he could to forget her, to hate her, to forget himself and not to think about her anymore in those 4 days.

It had taken 4 minutes, since he had seen her cuddled like a baby on the cold ground of her room, to forgive her, instead.

"No more secrets" he simply asked her, looking at her with a pleasing gaze.

He was begging and asking her a single unbreakable promise.

Blair threw herself in his arms, crying because for the fist time in 4 days she was really feeling home.

**The Crying sometimes gets under our skin. Sometimes it made us feel weak and depressed, so we impose ourselves not to cry anymore, for any reason.**

**We're making a huge mistake, through. Crying is life.**

**Living a life without crying, is like moving with no directions, with no aims, without a soul, depriving ourselves of our fragility.**

**When I gave birth to my daughter, I didn't hear anything. There were no sounds or shout or crying coming out of her little body.**

**I cried for days, believing that my life had ended with hers. At that time I couldn't know it, but while I was crying over her death, I was loving her, I was living…**


	14. Chapter 14

As always I want to Thank you for all the reviews! I didn't expect so much love for this story and it's something that surprised me and makes me really happy!

This chapter is going to end with a big happening. I wanted to specify that I wrote this scene during the 5th season, when I didn't know that I was going to seen something similar in episode 6x09.

I hope you're gonna like the chapter and please let know what you think about it!

A very special thanks, goes to CryWilliams for her amazing support and her help"

* * *

In the previous chapters:  
- After the useless confrontation with Elisabeth, Blair confesses to Daphne that she had lost Chuck's baby. Chuck hears it and runs away.  
- Nicholas tells Blair that Chuck knows and that's the reason why he left.  
Blair breaks down. No one can talk to her, she doesn't eat or walk out of her bedroom. No one know where Chuck is.  
- In the desperate attempt to help Blair, Eleanor asks Mr Harvey informations about Chuck, but he refuses. However, he gives her Blair's file, the one Nicholas had given to Daphne weeks before.  
- Eleanor discovers that Blair was pregnant with Chuck's Baby, but she lost it due to her bulimia. She cannot accept it, but Blair explains to her and Serena, that her life with Louis was unhappy. Both Eleanor and realises that Blair thinks she killed her own baby and they try to reassure her.  
- Chuck is consumed by the truth, so he tries everything he can to run away from it and forgot Blair, only to realise that it's impossible. At the end of his escape, it's his grandmother's embrace that gives him some peace.  
- Worried by the lack of information about Blair, Chuck comes back to NY to check on her. He finds her sick and desperate. Watching her that way, leads him to forgive her.

**Chapter 14**

**Beyond midnight**

**Nicholas and I were instable because we kept on chasing each other after breaking up and coming back together, but when we were together we were invincible and balanced. The time I spent with him was one of the most amazing of my life. I was so happy that losing him was something that scared me so much to influence my way to be with him. I felt like I was becoming weaker every time and knowing, at the same time, that I couldn't have survived if I had lost him again.**

"Mr Bass we're flying on New York . Please get ready for the landing"

Chuck ended the phone conversation with his pilot and stretched in his bed.

Blair's head laid on his chest, her brown curls spread on his shirt. She had been sleeping on him for 2 hours, clinging at his shirt with one hand and wedging him with her legs.

The only idea of waking her up pissed him off. He could have stayed like that for a lifetime.

He leaned closer to her head, rubbing slowly the tip of his nose on hers and placing a kiss on her ruby lips.

Blair instinctively sighted and pictured a smile on her face, pulling him closer.

"We're home kitten" Chuck deeply breathed in the perfume of her hair while whispering in her ear. One of his hands was caressing her naked shoulder.

"Already?" she complained, throwing her head in the curve of his neck and smelling him.

"I may still kidnap you" He proposed, not wanting that moment to ever end.

"And tell me…What kind of torture do you have in mind Bass?" she asked him, seeking for his cheek to rub. A malicious smile was on her lips even if her eyes were still closed.

"Locking you at the Empire and cover your body with the caramel hot cream you love so much..." he had no shame, biting her lip and caressing her whole body with his hand to mime what he had in mind. She was pleased by his proposal and excited by the way his fingers were touching her skin.

"You like the chocolate more" she reminded him, slowly opening her eyes and slipping on the top of him.

"At the Empire?" Chuck asked placing kisses around her lips. In his head everything was already settled she just had to say yes.

Blair sighed, satisfied by the way his dark eyes and his wanting body desired her. She didn't reply for a while, just enjoying all the sensations of their bodies tight together.

"I need to pick up some changing first" she finally informed him, putting a distance between them.

"You won't need them" Chuck lifted up to get closer and bite the spot of her neck that usually made her mad.

Closing her eyes at the contact, Blair couldn't stop but moaning and pulled him closer.

He triumphantly smiled against her skin before falling back on the pillow and taking a long full sight of the way he made her feel.

When Blair, opened her eyes back, his hands were already cupping and caressing her thighs under her nightgown.

She knew he was doing his best to convince her, so she had to use the same means.

Sitting astride on the top of him, she let her hands guide on his chest, observing his reactions.

"You know, how much I adore, staying in bed with you all day… us naked and tight on each other..." she begun, excited by his dark eyes which were fixing the straps on her gown.

"… but I love more when we concede each other the best, excruciating pleasure of seduction" she leaned on his chest to stray her fingers on it and play with his hair chest. "And…In my closet there's everything we need" she finished, leaning on him to kiss him.

On the other hand, Chuck wasn't that much of the idea of waiting longer.

When Blair's lips broke the contact from his and she sat back, his hands caressed upward her arms only to stop on her shoulder and remove her straps. He grumbled thinking that he couldn't go further, while his eyes were devouring the skin he had exposed to his view.

"How about we call La Perla and make them send at the Empire the entire collection and we don't lose time?" he propose with hoarse voice, teasing her body with his fingers only to delight himself of the way her body responded to his touches.

"You always know how to bribe me Chuck Bass.." she whispered, utterly consumed by the sensations he was provoking to her body.

"I know you better than anyone else..." he giggled, observing her from the pillow, losing control and starting rocking on his member.

"Call Falke too" she ordered him, bringing him from his hair and pulling him up against her to kiss him.

"Absolutely" He agreed, blocking her into his strong arms to deepen the kiss.

"Bass"

"Mmh"

"Stop this plane from landing!"

In a few minutes her nails were leaving scarf on his back.

* * *

"It's over" Dan informed her, when the red light of the camera switched off.

Daphne took a relief breath and smiled.

Dan stared at her in embarrassed.

"What?" she suddenly asked him.

"No-thing.." he replied defensively before justifying himself… "It's…I've been wrong about you"

"Please, do not try to fall for me too" Daphne made fun of him with a sweet smile. "I know that you like Blair" she reasoned her line.

"She left with him" Dan's suffered tone made her realize how much he was still into her.

"Have you ever asked her to run away with you?"

"Me?" he was surprised. Daphne nodded.

"Come on…We're talking about Blair Waldorf, the one who thinks that the heels of her last Manolo are more important than a baby from Burundi . The same one who can't leave the Dior shop without buying something" he had clearly lost hope. "Blair Waldorf would never end up with someone like me"

"Do you wanna know what I think?" Daphne had carefully listened to him. Dan nodded.

"I don't think that she sees you as something different from a friend as well as I think that she's not aware of your infatuation" Dan's gaze fixed something behind Daphne's shoulders.

Nicholas was chatting with a girl. Maybe it was just his way to behave but it always seemed that he was flirting with anyone. Daphne had seen it too, but she looked indifferent.

"He's a charmer" She explained to Dan as she was talking about some random piece in shop window.

"Doesn't it bother you? I mean... he had been all wrong with you and he doesn't even think that he can hurt you!" Dan said, still surprised by her lack of reactions.

Daphne didn't look pissed by his question.

"It's not that he doesn't know it, he simply can't change"

"And is this ok to you? You're really willing to have him this way? In spite of all?" Dan couldn't believe it.

"I love him the way he is" Daphne replied.

Dan was perplex, but it didn't stop her.

"People are not black or white. We're all different. Nicholas loves me. I know it, better than him. This is the real problem."

"It looks like the contrary"

"Because you don't know him" Daphne knew that she could go further.

"Look at Chuck and Blair.." she started. "For long you've thought that they were bad both together, both on their own. Then you've found the good in Blair while she was suffering because of Chuck's choices and you've decided that she's better without him. So, you think that Chuck and Blair are not the right pairing people think, their love is weakness and she's his victim. Here is the mistake" Dan looked touched by her words.

"No one knows the depth of a relationship between two people who complete each other. Have you ever asked yourself why, after so many years, the Blair who had conquered your heart, is still choosing him? Saying that she's a masochist or that he's a puppeteer is easy. If she always comes back to him, maybe he's more worth it than anyone else can think".

Dan was speechless.

"Are you telling me that thinking wrong about Chuck destroys what I feel for her?"

"Something like that" Daphne agreed.

"And that I have a terrible idea of both Chuck and Nicholas, just because I don't know who they really are?"

"You're learning fast Humphrey"

"Do you study philosophy?" he finally asked.

"I've always liked the psychology more" Daphne offered him a smile. "It could be weird, hearing it from me, but if you want Blair in your life, you have to tell her the truth".

She was convincing him. "Obviously the fact that my brother could make you a black eye, is another story!" She laughed, standing up and leaving the seat to Nicholas for his interview.

* * *

"I told you, they would have fallen at your feet" Chuck reminded her with pride, pulling her against his body. The board meeting was over and Blair's proposal had been a gigantic success.

"My project was impeccable, they couldn't vote against me. Plus feeding the duck in Central Park is a father favourite gift" she giggled while circling his neck with her arms.

"You're back on top... and we both know how much you love it" he whispered in her hear and biting it. She couldn't contain a moaning, while her lips pictured a smile. She let him toy with her a little bit more before reminding him what they had to do. She puffed.

"We have to attend the brunch..." it was more a complaining than a reminder.

They had to attend the Board Brunch. Even through it, instead of breaking the contact with Chuck, Blair pulled him closer, plunging her hands in his hair and throwing a leg around his hips as he had placed her on the meeting table.

"We could stay here instead..." he suggested, with his famous smirk on his face, testing her skin with his lips. In the meantime one of his hands had disappeared under her Dior skirt.

"and what do you propose?" Blair maliciously asked him, while Chuck's other hand had slipped inside of her shirt, caressing her back.

She was enjoying the feeling of being the only centre of his attentions.

The world was at her feet and she felt complete and satisfied. She was working for one of the major company of the world, she had just won her first goal at the board, and the papers would have told that she had succeed because of her capacities.

Plus, she was with the man of her life and the idea of having sex with him on the same table that just a few minutes before had ordained her success, excited her more than anything else.

She felt invincible and desired and accepted and powerful.

"And this one is the room where the board do the meetings. If you go ahead you can take a better look" Daphne's voice came from the alley. Probably she was outside of the door with some visitors.

Both Chuck and Blair came as surprised. Hit by the panic, Blair pushed Chuck away from her and quickly climbed off the table adjusting her skirt, hiding behind him.

She couldn't be caught that way, not after her first personal success, not after the tons of compromising pictures of the previous weeks, not together with the nephew of the boss by a school visit.

Chuck turned towards the door, covering her with his body.

"Look who's here…" Daphne came into his view.

"You always have the perfect timing, sis" he welcomed Daphne.

"Actually I'd rather not finding you in a compromising position anymore" She replied back, stepping into the room.

Blair became red. The last time, she had found them in the back of Dan's car, while they were dressing up.

"Too bad you are alone…We don't care if someone watch" Chuck's irony made Blair stronger. She raised her head and took a few steps towards Chuck to show herself to Daphne and verify he was right.

Thankfully she was really alone. No school visit in sight.

"Thank God, you scared me!" Blair took a relief breath, but Daphne winced at Chuck's exit.

"As for myself, I had enough about watching" She replied to him clearly hinting back to Texas .

"If I were you, sis, I wouldn't disdain a frontal lesson. Practice teaches better" he provoked her, knowing that she wasn't going to shut up.

"In that case, I believe that the educational movie collection under your bed, would be enough"

Chuck smirked satisfied.

"Fine! What can we do for you?" Blair stopped their conversation. She didn't look pissed at all by their little argument, but relaxed and quite instead.

"I'm here to invite you to a victory dinner tonight, and to tell you that you can't play the hea ache card to miss it" Daphne informed them.

"A dinner? For me?" Blair drifted her ears, excited by the news.

"A traditional Italian dinner" Daphne specified, winking at her.

Chuck smirked, well aware of the fact that the two woman in front of him were really similar on that point. Traditions were untouchable!

"What?" Blair took his attention. She had realized that he was hiding something. "You don't believe that I can attend to a traditional dinner that your sister has so thoughtfully arranged in my honour?"

"Blair.." he tried to explain. She was completely far from the truth.

"Blair Waldorf loves traditions and traditions love Blair Waldorf!" she pointed out to him preventing him from explaining himself.

"This is not what I was .." he tried again.

"I'm so glad you're back home" That time was Daphne who was speaking. "…I should say that I almost missed you"

* * *

"Nate?" Nicholas called him from the reception.

"Nicholas, Hi! What are you doing here?" Nate knew him pretty well as Nicholas was a close friend of Chuck, but since he had found out what he had done to Daphne, Nate didn't like him anymore.

"I've been told that Chuck is back. Is he here?"

"He arrived yesterday together with Blair. They have been locked in his bedroom till 3 hours ago"

"Man, you'd better find another place!" Nate fixed Nicholas perplex.

"He's at the board now. They had an important vote today" Nate changed the topic.

"Are you talking about the project for the safeguard of the ducks in Central Park ?"

"It could be it" Nate's coldness was something that Nicholas sensed.

"So, I suppose that Daphne is there too" he said to verify if his doubts were true.

"She said so.."

Nate was his rival. Nicholas smirked. He could have easily destroyed him if he ever wanted it.

"You know that soon or later she'll come back to me?" He reminded to Nate, hoping to affect him in some ways, but the guy in front of him didn't react.

"She loves you, but you don't deserve her anymore" Nate admitted, well aware of the fact that Nicholas was going to be an irreplaceable presence in her heart. However his time with her was over.

"Daphne and I belong to each other" Nicholas explained with arrogance. He didn't like that people could judge him. People didn't know what they had. "You can make her happy now, but you won't ever complete her the way I do"

* * *

"Oh B! You're back!" Serena opened Blair's door and walked in.

They haven't seen each other yet, since Blair had come back in the city.

"S!" Blair ran to her, hugging her close.

Serena couldn't stop but thinking that just a week before her best friend deadly lied on that bed and right there she was happiness herself.

"I'm so happy to see you like this B! I've been so worried about you…" Serena held her close for a little longer. "And you've even cleaned up yourself!" she made fun of Blair, who rolled her eyes and broke away from the embrace.

"I was out of myself Serena and it's never happened before" she pointed out, annoyed by her best friend's exit. Yes it was something she was ashamed about, so she had to find a way to hide it in the past forever.

Serena smiled at her reaction. That girl in front of her was her real best friend in all her glory.

"You have to tell me everything!" Serena begged her, looking at her with curiosity.

"Chuck brought me to Italy " Blair suddenly lightened up. Her excitement was still in her eyes.

"Are those all new?" Serena interrupted her, noticing tons of Italian stylist's bags inside and outside of Blair new gigantic closet.

Blair didn't reply, but conceded her best friend a guilty look.

"I can't believe it! Chuck bought you the entire Via Monte Napoleone!" Serena exploded, opening the closet door only to notice that there were bags in everywhere.

"Oh my God! Let me guess... you've played the _who buys more things to the other? _game!?" tried to find a reason for all the bags thrown in everywhere.

It wasn't even the first time they did it! She remembered the Christmas of 2009, when they had filled an entire plane cabin with gifts and purchases coming back from their trip in Rio . Lily was still praising a sculpture of a local artist they had picked up for her.

"Come on S! You know that buying clothes to Chuck is more fun to than buying them just for me!" Blair justify herself, bringing a Cavalli shopper.

"And who won this time?"

"Me" Blair's victorious glare was a clear statement of joy. "But only because Chuck wanted to buy me the Colosseum and they stopped him, so he's been obliged to reserve it only for a night". There was a line of power in Blair's voice. Maybe there had been a time when she had believed that he made her weak, but whenever she was with him she always looked stronger and powerful.

"By the way, he wanted it to be counted, but I complained! I can't obviously wear it!" Blair stated it, taking a seat on her bed, with the bag in her hand.

It was clear that that piece, would have changed the victory, and it did bother Blair.

"He must be hurt by the refusal..."Serena commented thinking about Chuck's ego. He had been raised up believing that his money could have bought everything he wanted. At the kindergarten he used to pay the other kids to play with him!

"Oh don't worry Serena, we took our revenge, violating a few laws about the decorum on a public place" Blair assured her with a smirk.

"Please! I don't wanna hear it!" Serena plugged her ears knowing exactly was Blair was going to tell her.

"Chuck has always had an insane passion for the centurions! The gladiator was one of his favourite role to play!" Blair kept on speaking about their sex games, well aware of Serena's embarrassment.

"Ok! I got it! May we change the subject please?" she begged her best friend.

"If you want... but don't say that I didn't tell you anything then!" Blair looked shining with her bright smile pictured on her face.

"Oh! B! I haven't seen you so happy in such a long time!" Even if Serene wasn't going to admit it, she had missed all the talk about Blair and Chuck's sexual life. It meant that they were fine and in love and most of all, that Blair was her real self.

"I do am happy" Blair nodded with a huge smile, taking a box with a big bow outside of the Cavalli's shopper. "And this is for you!"

"For me?" Serena echoed her with joy. She adored Cavalli!

She run and took a seat next to her best friend who was handing her the box.

"I'm really grateful to you Serena" Blair changed the tone of the conversation, watching Serena untying the bow.

"I know that you were outside of my door, days and nights" she shyly smiled "And I'm sorry for not telling you what happened, for all this time".

Serena couldn't help but notice Blair's melancholy. She forgot about the box and looked into her best friend eyes.

"I'll always be there for you B! Always" She assured Blair, taking her hands in hers.

"I just couldn't accept that my baby was gone" Blair admitted, slowly caressing her belly. "I know that losing a baby in the first few months happens" she lowered her gaze on her belly. "But I've been so scared to tell it to myself. To tell Chuck... When he went to Paris and London to look for me, I couldn't meet him, I was afraid that if I had told him, he would have hated me... I couldn't even look into his eyes… But I was wrong, He's still here…" she conceded a tiny sweet smile.

"Maybe that baby was there to remind us how much time we've lost".

In that very moment, Serena could see through the tons of gifts and the sexual attentions.

"How are you feeling now?" she asked, not hiding her worry.

"Fine, why?" Blair lied, acting as everything was ok. Serena got it.

"B, I don't wanna break the ball. I know how much you love each other and that you're really happy with Chuck now..." Serena knew that she couldn't shut up. She had to tell her the truth.

"But…" Blair urged her, knowing Serena better.

"I know you, both of you... I know that you're doing all of this…" she pointed at the bags on the floor "just because you're scared to lose each other all over again. But, this is not what you need".

When they were afraid of hurting each other and lose everything they had, they started acting as if they lived in a perfect land, making each other happy on a material way. It was always the same way to avoid the main point, not to face and handle what really hurt them.

"You're wrong S" Blair corrected her, pretending that her words didn't hit her. "Chuck and I have never been as close as we are now"

"So, I'm glad to be wrong" Serena apologized, aware that her words had opened the wound.

"Do you like it?" Blair suddenly changed the conversation, pointing at the box in Serena's hand. She didn't want Serena to realize that what she had said was right, as always.

* * *

"Ehi, Man! You've finally decided to move back in?" Nate leaned on the doorstep of Chuck's old room at the Empire, following Chuck who was giving specific instructions to his employer about where to place the hundreds of bags coming out of the elevator.

"Don't worry Nathaniel, I just stopped by to leave here a few things" Chuck replied, moving a few huge bags of Hermes from the bed to the floor.

Nate was confused. Where did he get all those clothes?

"Speaking of this… Do you mind if I place some of them in your closet?" Chuck asked him.

"Of course not" Nate was unaware of what he had to expect from his question.

"Mister Bass, where can we leave these?" a waiter asked, coming from the elevator with a huge trailer full of bags and boxes which would have filled the entire Nate's room.

"Put them in Nate's closet" Chuck ordered without even taking a look of the items inside of the bags.

"Man, Where are all these things coming from?" the curiosity on Nate's face was mixed to a confused expression.

"Blair and I bought a few things while we were away" Nate looked at Chuck and then back at all the bags.

"When you two attend the fashion weeks, you come back with less clothes. Should I get worried?" Nate looked serious.

"We've been in Italy " Chuck started to justify himself.

"And you bought the entire via Monte Napoleone to her" Nate surprised Chuck with his sharpness.

"I just wanted to make her happy" Chuck reasoned, knowing what Nate was thinking.

"Look, man... I know about the baby... aren't you just spoiling each other to avoid the real mess?"

"Nate, I'm not in the mood for that conversation" Chuck tried to wrap up the argument, as Nate had just reached the main point of the story.

"I know how it hurts" Nate didn't stop though, catching Chuck's full attention.

"I know both of you since kindergarten. I know what you're doing. You're scared to lose each other so you're spending thousands of dollars in gifts and having tons of sex only to show each other your love"

"We love doing those things"

"Have you talked to each other about what happened? I mean, a real talk…What it really meant it in your relationship with her?" Nate hit and sank Chuck again.

"Nathaniel, I really appreciate your interest in our relationship, but it's none of your business"

"I'm sorry man, but it's not just your business. A Gucci's purse or an Hermes's tie don't alleviate the pain for the loss of a child. A new collection doesn't cancel a previous one, right?" Chuck swallowed hard.

"Allow me a tip Nathaniel. Stop hanging out with my sister. Her love theories are nutsing you"

* * *

"You said family dinner, right?" Dan was surprised by what he had in front of his eyes.

Daphne had invited everyone: Lily, Rufus, Eric who was back from the college, Eleanor and Cyrus together with Dorota, Vanya and their baby. Nate was there with his mother. Then there were a few close employers and friends of the grandparents. Then, obviously, the grandparents, uncle John, Serena, Chuck and Blair.

"I'll regret it, but you'll get used to family reunions like this" Daphne smiled at him, jokily hitting him on the shoulder before running into the kitchen to bring a package of chips to fry.

Cyrus and Mr Harvey were trying the barbeque on the balcony. Josephine was showing Eleanor and Lily how to cut the breads and how to fry the chips. Serena delivered the drinks that Chuck was preparing at the minibar of the living room, while Blair was smilingly putting the ice into the glasses of scotch and the olives into the glasses of Martini. She looked happy, sitting next to Chuck and helping him with the drinks.

Rufus was playing some Eagles songs with his guitar and John Harvey sang the songs, following him with the piano. Nate and Eric were playing with Daphne's 5 little house dogs, instead.

Everything Dan Humphrey had never seen in years was right in front of him and it was all thanks to the Harvey Family. It looked like a movie scene.

"Are you amazed Humphrey?" Nicholas came from behind his back.

"I see you're here too..." Dan swallowed, annoyed by his appearance.

"I suggested Daphne all of this. She loves these Italian family parties"

"She is Italian" Dan specified. It was something she was really proud of, wearing Italian clothes and choosing Italian restaurants for lunch.

"She's a flag that doesn't belong to any State" Nicholas said, fixing her with enchanted eyes.

"Neither to you"

"You don't know anything about us, Humphrey" Nicholas admonished Dan, waiting for him to turn around and look at him.

"You're right" Dan admitted, taking a better look at the people in front of him.

"I don't know anything about you. Actually I don't know anything about anyone… Look…. I thought that I could change the world with my talent, that I could have Serena van der Woodsen, that I could reach my goals. I was wrong. I believed I was writing the truth, but I wrote fake things about everyone. I believed I was helping the people I loved, but I was just hurting them instead. And most of all, I've never thought that I'd seen Eleanor Waldorf cutting breads for a

family "country outing" in the living room of one of the most powerful family of the world, but she's right there, doing it! She's also singing 'take it easy' with a satisfied smile on her face!"

"If I'm not mistaken, Serena has luckily found a better match" That was the only thing that had caught Nicholas interest of all Dan's speech.

Dan looked at him absorbing the shock. Nicholas was sipping at his bourbon.

"Thanks for reminding me"

"You're welcome"

"You know? The thing is that nothing is certain" Dan couldn't shut up on that anymore. "Daphne loves you, she told me herself, but it's time for her to let you go. She needs it"

"She'll come back to me" Nicholas replied with no hesitations. He was sure about it.

"Maybe... however she's meeting people and you'd never know if she'd be happy without you in her new life" Dan explained, looking at Daphne who was having fun with Nate.

Nicholas followed Dan's gaze and saw that too. He swallowed while their past rewind in his head.

He drunk his left bourbon in one go and leaned close to Dan's ear.

"There's a thing we all know but you... While you were walking in the London parks with Blair Waldorf, fucking her in your fantasy land, she was secretly grieving the loss of Chuck's child"

Dan paled. Nicholas words hit him in the heart like a dagger.

"Can you see it? Nothing is certain, little Humphrey"

**The day is made of 24 hours. Midnight followed by 1 am , are the darkest and more dangerous hours of the day. Tough, they are 2 different faces of the same medal. When the night falls you know that it going darker by the minutes, till midnight , which represents the end of the day and the darkest instant. You can't go further than this, because after midnight , a new day born, a new counting time starts and the darkness slowly fade away. And even if the first few hours of the day still feels like night, the light is coming at the horizon, with the promises of a new beginning**.

"It's been ages since I last had so much fun" Blair commented, getting into the limo. Chuck slipped next to her

"And, this Yves Saint Laurent bow was perfect for the occasion!" She didn't waste time to sit on his legs and play cheerfully with the bowtie she had personally bought for him.

A few minutes of happiness passed. They had both missed so much their moments of intimacy, spent after the family brunches or the night out at the operas, into the limo on their way home.

Enjoying that peace, felt like a way back in the past, the same one which had changed them forever. A huge sense of guilt hit Chuck. He had run away from the things which had hurt him the most for so long only to realize that it only made things worse.

That thought changed his mood. They couldn't push away their sorrow and pretend that everything was fine because it wasn't. They needed to share their pain, to talk about it, to cry over it together.

The image of a missing life together with their son hit him again, like during all the days alone, fighting it with all his strengths. He stiffened.

Blair, who was still playing with his bowtie, sitting on him with her head on his shoulder, sensed it.

"What's going on Chuck? Did I say something wrong?" She suddenly asked him even if her talk with Serena was starting echoing in her mind.

She wasn't ready to let go of that moment of joy with him. She didn't want that their bubble of happiness where they had hidden for the entire week to burst.

Chuck moved a little in order to be able to look her in the eyes, even if one of his hands placed on her waist to hold her there on him and the other one lifted up her chin.

"I won't survive if I'd lose you again. You know it, right?" he asked her with his eyes deeply staring into hers. Nate was right on that count.

For them, pretending had always been the best way to avoid the pain, but life had taught them that the only way they had to be together was to be true to each other, to let each other in and have faith in their love.

When they had stopped from communicating to each other or hid their feelings, in the past, they had destroyed what they had, lost their minds and their hearts, held on to fantasy lives to survive under other names or thanks to someone else's smile.

"We won't leave each other anymore…" she quickly replied, desperately convincing herself about it. "Right?" she finally asked him, feeling weak under his serious gaze.

If one thing had really scared them the most since the very first time, it was not the hurt and the lies, it was not their devious and devils mind, but the truth.

The truth of desiring each other, the truth of falling for each other, the truth of belonging to each other, the truth of accepting and forgiving everything of the other, the truth of being their real self only with each other, the truth of suffering and growing due to each other mistakes. Sometimes the truth had tied them together, sometimes it had tired them apart, sometime it had scared them and leaded them to be cowards, but the truth had always made them come back to each other, the truth itself had always come back to them.

Chuck stroke down the wall of omissions and fears.

"I love you Blair.." he said with a firm voice and eyes full of emotion. "You've always been the most important thing of my life"

That revelation made Blair take a relief breath. She couldn't contain a smile.

She hadn't heard those 3 words for years. Even during their European week of passion he had never said those words. They had spent days physically and materially showing each other how much they have missed the other, but it hadn't been the time for confessions, just yet.

The way Chuck had pronounced those words made her feel a shiver down her back.

He rarely showed his feelings, if not necessary.

"Say it again" she ordered him, gently caressing his cheeks. Chuck's eyes deeply stared into hers before accepting the challenge.

"I love you" he repeated with a shy smile remembering the first time he had said it to her. Many things had changed since then, but not his feelings for her.

Then he became serious again. She knew that the time had come.

"I love you Blair and when we'll be ready we'll built our family... and we'll have _other _babies..."

Blair lowered her gaze while a tear poured down her cheek.

"What if I can't have babies anymore?" It was her worst fear. It was her fault if their first child was gone. She couldn't look him in the eyes because she had killed his legacy and their future.

She couldn't accept it.

Chuck caressed her cheeks and forced her to look back at him.

"It was not your fault Blair" he whispered softly.

Blair eyes opened wide. He was the only one who had never said it. His words sounded like redemptions.

She suddenly shook her head. They didn't change anything. They didn't change the fact that she had lost their baby.

"It'll take time..." he preceded while she kept on shaking her head. "We'll need time… And even if you won't want try again… I'll be there, because... You are my family Blair… You and I" he promised, never leaving her eyes.

Even during the worst period of their relationship, deep inside of her, Blair had always known his feeling toward her. However, what he was confessing, left her speechless.

Chuck wanted that baby. Chuck wanted to become the father of her babies, but if she didn't want to have babies anymore, it would have never made a difference to him.

He loved her and he would have stayed with her for the rest of her life because she was his family.

The fact that he could be willing to renounce his legacy to protect her from her pain, suffocated her.

She wanted to have Chuck's babies. She couldn't live in a world where he thought that she didn't want to carry his offspring anymore.

It was the only thing she desired the most.

She would have loved and accepted his babies at any conditions, for the same reasons he was renouncing to them.

"I wanted him" she confessed him, admitting it out loud for the very first time.

She had cried so much, knowing that a part of Chuck was not inside of her anymore, not to feel anything anymore. It had been like losing him all over again, like feeling as life didn't mattered anymore.

"I know it" he simply replied, while pulling her to him. "Me too" he held her closer and caressed her hairs.

He closed his eyes while they were both crying their lost son.

* * *

"Nate?"

"Serena! What are you doing here?" He asked, finding her in the kitchen.

"And since when do you bake?" she looked surprised, putting a finger into the dough to taste it.

Nate tried to answer her but she interrupted him.

"I can't believe it!" she yelled with a strange light in her eyes. "Who is she? Do I know her?"

"Wait… How do you know it?" Nate looked confused.

"I knew it! OMG!" Serena shouted, clapping her hands like a baby placed in front of a surprise.

"I see I can't hide anything fro you..."

"So… Who is she?" She got closer with a detective tone of voice.

He fixed her for a second. Did he have to tell her? The way her eyes were begging him made him fall.

"Daphne" he admitted it.

"OMG! I cannot believe it!" Serena looked more than happy. "Does she know it?"

"That I'm cooking for her?"

"No, of course! I meant… Does she know that you like her?"

"I invited her out for dinner and she accepted"

"That's great! Nate! You have no idea how happy I am for you!" she yelled again with a huge smile pictured on her face. "But now, we have to plan your night!"

* * *

Chuck showed up at the Harvey 's hangar, where 2 jets were ready to land.

"Look who's back to the real world…" Nicholas leaned against the limo.

"I thought you were already gone" Chuck looked confused. His grandfather had informed him that Nicholas and Daphne would have taken the other family jet an hour before.

"My father still wanted to meet us, but changed the destination. We're waiting for the plane to get ready" Chuck stood in silence, thinking that it sounded strange.

"About Texas ... I apologize…" Chuck tried not to sound pathetic.

"Chuck Bass apologizes..." Nicholas looked around. "Do I have to be afraid of being hit by a meteorite?"

Chuck shook his head with a smirk.

"Poker…Tomorrow night… At the Empire!" Chuck proposed him, holding out his hand in peace.

"Only if I bring the entertainment"

"We have a deal" they shacked their hands.

"I can't believe it! You're organizing an off limits party, for whoever is on a growing phase" Daphne was walking out of her Maserati.

"You love these parties" The both teased her.

"What can I do about it? The last time I emptied your wallet!" she smiled with satisfaction "to both of you, if I may pointing out"

"It's a good reason for me to take a revenge. I want my Lamborghini back" Chuck complained.

"If you want it, you have to win. Or maybe you're afraid to lose your yacht too? I am not Allegra!"

"Miss and Mr Harvey, the jets are ready"

"See you tomorrow, man!" Nicholas hit Chuck on the shoulder to greet him.

"Bring good staff" Chuck reminded him.

"Have I ever disappointed you?" Nicholas assured him, smiling and walking inside of the plane. Chuck shook his head. It felt like the old times.

"Here we are" Daphne was still in front of him.

"Are you sure, you wanna meet that man?" Chuck was still worried about her decision to accompany Nicholas.

"If I survived facing Elisabeth, I think I can" she smiled to let him know that she was ok.

"I don't know... You're acting weird lately.." He deeply stared into her eyes. There was something he was missing and he didn't like it.

"Oh…Look at this coat!" Daphne got closer to adjust his collar. "Let me guess...Blair bought it?" He didn't reply. He simply glanced at the floor with a shy expression. He knew that she was skating over the argument, but he didn't want to press her.

"One day, you'll have an amazing family Chuck"

He quickly raised his eyes back in hers. He didn't expect it.

"… and you babies will love you so much..." There was melancholy in Daphne's voice. He knew the reason why and it made his heart ache for her.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked her.

She gently caressed his cheek with a lightening smile on her face.

"Because if you'll love them as much as you two love each other, they'll be the most love spoiled child of the entire planet".

Chuck couldn't help but smile. He knew how much it cost to her to say it, so it meant much more to him.

"Thank you… not just for this, but for everything you've done... for both of us"

"Oh please! Spare me…" she admonished him. "When you'll have a family and I'll be there every single day, you won't be that grateful" she teased him.

He stared at her, enchanted by the way she always changed the subject.

"I love you" he finally confessed her, taking her by surprise.

He had never said those words to her. He was not that kind of a brother. Daphne was aware that it was a rare and really special moment.

"Me too" she reminded him, with a sweet smile. Then she lowered her gaze.

"When I'll come back, I have a very important thing to do..." Chuck listened to her, noticing how difficult it was to her to say it. "... I don't know if I can do it alone" she finally looked back at him. She was asking him to be there for her.

"Whatever it is, I'm in" he placed his hands on her shoulders.

She was trusting him, and he would have never disappointed her. He'd always be there for her, anytime.

Daphne nodded in agreement and took a deep breath. Asking her brother's help, had been less difficult than what she had thought.

"I should go" she smiled. "Please, say hi to Blair for me and take care of yourself".

His sister threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.

"I'll do it" he instinctively tightened the hold for a while, before feeling her slipping away.

He followed her profile with his gaze. She hurried up the plane stairs and disappeared from his eyes.

* * *

"The plane will land in 5 minutes. May I bring you something in the mean time?"

"A coffee please" Daphne kindly replied.

"A scotch for me.." Nicholas did the same.

"I see, A leopard can't change its spots!" she commented, staring at his smirk.

"Don't touch my Jack" he agreed, quoting an old Italian advertisement.

Daphne smiled and turned her gaze over Chuck, who was running up his jet stairs.

"I hate to admit it, but you were right…" She stated after a long silence.

"About what?" he questioned her, watching her following her brother with her eyes.

"I confused our past with their present" she felt guilty. "I couldn't stay out of it"

"You just wanted him not to do what I did" Nicholas justified her.

She slowly turned back to stare at him, but the sadness he found made him glance down.

"It doesn't exist a day when I don't regret what I've done to our daughter" Nicholas confessed, interrupting the silence. He lifted up his eyes back on her.

She looked frightened to talk about it, but they both knew it was about the time to do it.

He slowly slipped his hands and took hers.

The strong tight of his grip made her glanced down at their intertwined hands. He was scared to lose the grip, to let them go, once and for all.

"I've always wished that my father could love me someday"

Nicholas looked at their hands, unable to stand the emotions on Daphne's face. He had to tell her, he had to take that load off his heart. He had hidden it for so long that he couldn't live with it anymore.

He winced, then he got back cold.

"I did to my daughter, what he did to me" There was disdain his voice. Remorse and disdain for his own choices.

"Nicholas.." Daphne tried to interrupt him but he stopped her.

"No! I killed our daughter, long before she came to life" He looked straight to her, pronouncing that sentence with anger.

Her stomach burned. He was finally confessing her how he felt. She knew that he wasn't responsible for the death of their child, but she wasn't able to object.

"I know that telling it now doesn't change anything.." he glanced back down. "We had it all..." He reminded with melancholy. He was talking about something lost, that he wasn't ready to let go just yet.

After a long moment of silence, he stared back at her.

"We can come back to what we were Daphne... allow me to do it... I can be forgiven...we can start over…" he asked her, like every single time he tried to believe it.

Daphne trembled.

She felt confused by the strength of his hands on hers, by the warmness of his promises, by the depth of his sorrow, by the wonderful prospective of that weak illusion. In spite of all, She was still in love with him, more than how she could have thought possible.

"I will always love you Nicholas…" she admitted with a sweet smile, making his eyes softening.

"You and I are the same. We belong together" he brought her hand to his mouth to kiss it with emphasis.

She had just given him a fake hope, so she had to find all the power in her body to get till the end of it.

They belonged together but it wasn't enough anymore. They were driving on two different tracks, too many obstacles were still on their path and despite their feelings, they weren't strong enough to stand by each other's side.

Nicholas sensed her difficulty. She loved him, but she had something else left to say.

"I can't come back with you" She confessed him needing all the courage she had left to admit it. "I'm different now. I need something different. You made me really happy, but things changed...".

Nicholas felt it.

He glanced down to control his emotions. It was all. She didn't want him anymore. Everything they had been through had killed them instead of making them stronger. She was asking him to let her go, let her live a life without him, let her smile at someone else, maybe spend the rest of her life in someone else's arms.

She tightened the hold of his hands.

"There was a time when you smiled at me that way you did with him" Nicholas swallowed in resignation, thinking back at the family dinner, when he had seen her, smiling at Nate with a different light in her eyes.

Daphne didn't need further explanations. Many years before, he had told her that he wanted to see her smiling, because her smile made her shine.

"I feel the need to stand on my own foot and give myself a challenge. I've been weak for so long..." She reasoned, holding back the tears.

"You know what you are asking me?" he asked her with watery and desperate eyes.

"If I wasn't sure about it I wouldn't do it.." she whispered, staring deeply into his eyes.

The man in front of her was not presumptuous. It wasn't a selfish man, unable to lose her. He wasn't the self-centred man who hurt the others first, to protect himself.

He was the boy she had fallen in love on a balcony, the one who brought her pistachio ice cream when she was sad and the same one who satisfied her needs taking her up against a wall.

He was staring into her eyes, understanding her real need, as anyone else would have done in a lifetime. She would have never loved someone else as him. She would have never hated, understood or forgiven any other guy like she had done with him.

If fate existed, Nicholas had been her destiny, no matter what had happened between them, or even if their relationship hadn't lived through it.

"May I ask you something?" he simply said, breaking the silence. She nodded in agreement.

"Will you hold my hand like that night?" he shyly asked her, well aware that when they would have left the plane, everything would have changed. She'd have turned away and took an opposite street from his, without looking back.

She tried to smile, but the tears had started to pour down her cheeks.

She couldn't say word. In that very moment the only thing she could do was feeling. And the only thing she felt was that she was already missing him so much.

* * *

"Good morning beautiful" Chuck answered the phone call, taking a seat on his jet.

"How could you leave without saying hi? You know how I get in a state when I don't receive a properly good morning wakeup call!" Blair accused him from under the dove, on the other side of the line. She was pretty cross.

"I had to leave soon. And, after what we've done tonight I thought you wanted to rest" he justified himself, knowing that the memory of the previous night would have calmed her.

"Actually, as you couldn't take your hands off of me; I'm gonna stay in bed all day" she skittish replied to him, biting her own lip. "By the way, where are you?"

"On the family jet. The grandfather wants me to wrap up a business deal in Boston on his behalf"

"Are you telling me that I'll stay all day long in this huge bed all by myself?" she sounded disappointed.

"I think so, unfortunately"

Blair giggled, hearing him say it in a bothered tone.

"Even if I'd say that I wanted to cook you the pie you love so much?" she provoked him.

"You don't know how much I hate leaving" he explained, touching his tie. "But I promise I'll make up to you. Tonight, I'll bring you out for dinner. Just the two of us"

"I don't know... I should check my agenda... Haven't you heard? The Financial Times talks about me as a 'pillar' of the Harvey 's Company" she played with him.

"I guess, that knowing that I booked the new restaurant in front of the ESB just for us, could please you"

"You have made a reservation there? How?" Blair was surprised. Having a reservation there, was practically impossible.

"I became an associate"

"Since when?" That was new to her.

"An hour and 25 minutes ago"

She couldn't believe it. He had bought that place just because she wanted to have dinner there! Walking the front door of that restaurant would have meant being on top.

"Considering the amount you had paid to satisfy my wish, I suppose I can't call myself out". She pretended to be detached. Luckily he couldn't see the bright gigantic smile placed on her face.

"It would be unforgettable…" he agreed, knowing that he had won.

"See you at 8, Bass"

"Actually..."

"Yes?.." she knew he had something in mind.

"I was thinking that I can come earlier and taste your pie..." he proposed with his deep low sensual voice.

"Too bad for you, Bass! No pie for lunch, no pie till after dinner!" she ended the conversation, leaving him with an amused expression.

* * *

"Dan?" Serena saw him walking out of the Waldorf's elevator.

"Serena? I just stopped by, to see how Blair is doing?" he informed her, while she was standing up from the sofa.

"She's upstairs to bring a few dvd"

"Oh look who's here! Humphrey you're just in time for a Grace Kelly marathon!" Blair had no make-up on, and she was wearing a dressing gown. She looked as relaxed and happy as at the Harvey 's dinner with Chuck.

"I'll go, getting some ice cream" Serena decided to leave them alone.

Blair arrived in front of Dan.

"I just wanted to know how were you going". He looked really worried.

"You knew…" Blair realized, lowering her gaze on her belly to hide her sad eyes from him.

"Why haven't you told me?"

"I wanted..." she looked back at him to reassure him. "But I couldn't…"

"I would have stood by you" he confessed, taking her hands in his own.

"I know, and you've been there even if you didn't know it.." she sincerely explained with a shy smile.

"Blair..." he glanced down at their hands "There's something I need to tell you"

"If you want to drag me along with you to watch Schindler's list, you better not even ask me" she teased him.

"It's an amazing movie"

"So… what were you going to tell me?" she asked with opened eyes full of curiosity.

"Blair... I..."

_"We interrupt the regular programmes due to a last minute news"_ Blair placed her eyes on the tv newscast, forcing Dan to do the same.

"_A private jet crashed in the Hudson river a few minutes ago"_

Blair's heart started to beat faster. She quickly ran to the tv to turn on the sound.

"A terrorist attack?" Dan suddenly wondered.

"No one crashes in a cold river to attempt someone life, Humphrey!" Blair nervously replied to him. Chuck was on a plane. Chuck could have been on that plane.

"What happened?" Serena approached them, coming back from the kitchen with the ice cream.

"A plane fell in the Hudson river " Dan explained to her.

"_We still have no official information about the plane and who was on it, but sources confirm us that the aids are already on place... Ok, We've been told that there's a home video of the crash... as you can see, the little jet comes from the north, then it loses control and falls into the river_"

"Oh my God" Blair's voice echoed in the room. She took a hand on her mouth.

"That's..." Dan couldn't believe it.

"The Harvey 's private jet" Serena was shocked.

Blair's legs felt weak, She couldn't stand on her foot. It was as been sucked in a vortex, as the ground was disintegrating under her foot.

It couldn't be Chuck's plane, she kept on begging in her head but never stopping looking at the video in front of her.

She hadn't realized the Dan has stopped her from falling either.

She didn't care about anything. Chuck was on a plane. That plane that kept on crashing in front of her eyes could be his plane.

"Sources confirm us that the plane is property of the Harvey family. It landed 10 minutes ago from the JFK. It seems that the young NY billionaire Charles Bass is on that plane, but this is not official yet"

"I's not possible" Serena couldn't believe it.

She looked at Blair, who was crying terrified on the sofa.

Serena couldn't bare what she was reading in her best friend's eyes. It couldn't be true. It wasn't happening. Chuck and Blair didn't deserve it.

**Nicholas is afraid of heights and when he thinks he is in trouble, he acts like a child. He put his foot down and desperately sights waiting for his mother. I found it out the third time I saw him. He had cheated playing poker, so his rivals had tied him on the balcony, against the highest pillar of the house. **

**When I went out, I found him there, naked with only his boxer on, with his eyes closed not to look down and owned by the panic. For a moment I had fun, watching the spoiled and arrogant guy, who had treated me like a mercy, begging for my help with all his strengths. **

**Moved by some sort of compassion I helped him. He was still so shocked and scared that we sat half an hour on the ground with his hand firmly tight to mine. I've never told him, that I would have stayed there, with my hand intertwined in his, for hours, if only he'd asked it.**


End file.
